RE: Open Access in Europe

["Sloan, Bernie" <bernies@uillinois.edu>]

Disclaimer: apologies if I have misconstrued Ann's and Dale's remarks, but
I wish to make a point...

Ann Okerson noted (re: open access in Europe) that Dale Askey said:

"...those in the US with a grain of initiative can have the same access as
a researcher if they head to their nearest academic library.  If the local
private university bars them at the door they can head to the nearest
state school's library."

Then Ann noted:

"The tradition of widest public access in libraries does serve us well
here in the US and Canada, whereas we hear from many traveling researchers
and students that access in/to European libraries is often very difficult
or not generally permitted."

I understand the argument...open access may be a hotter topic in Europe
because physical access to academic libraries in Europe may very often be
limited to those with a "legitimate" connection to the institution in
question, and that's not necessarily the case in the US or Canada.

Having said that, I have some quibbles with this argument. The major
quibble is with the implication (at least to me) that physical access to
an academic library is somehow (loosely) equivalent to open access. I'd
argue against this, for a couple of reasons:

* Access to a physical library doesn't necessarily give you access to what
you need, even with the resources that are available online from the
library's in-house workstations. A library might not subscribe to what you
need. Heck, some of the institution's own faculty members probably do not
have access to what THEY need. It doesn't matter whether the academic
library is private or public.

* I don't buy Dale's "grain of initiative" argument. I don't see how it
relates to OA. What does physical travel (or ability to travel) have to do
with OA? I'd bet that even within the US there are serious researchers
that are FAR removed from libraries that might probably help them. What
does the ability to travel in physical space have to do with OA? I thought
the whole point of OA was to level the playing field, especially when it
comes to physical location.

I'm interested to hear what others have to say about this...

Bernie Sloan

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Ann Okerson
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 5:21 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Open Access in Europe

A colleague and I (Dale Askey, our German & Scandinavian Studies library
specialist) exchanged a message or two about why OA seems a particularly
strong topic in Europe.  He makes some interesting points below about
diversity of cultures and practices, which seem worth sharing:

o Universities in some countries may have different publication
requirements for tenure than do American ones, so they may not have as
strong a concern for publishing in refereed journals as we do, hence some
possible additional enthusiasm for self-archiving.

o Another big element is that the populace generally doesn't have the same
access to scholarly resources that we have in the US.

He goes on, "It struck me during someone's talk the other day that
"reasonable access," i.e.- after six or twelve months, is a worthwhile
goal, and moreso, those in the US with a grain of initiative can have the
same access as a researcher if they head to their nearest academic
library.  If the local private university bars them at the door [note:  
Yale does not!] they can head to the nearest state school's library."

The tradition of widest public access in libraries does serve us well here
in the US and Canada, whereas we hear from many traveling researchers and
students that access in/to European libraries is often very difficult or
not generally permitted.  Is there a way in which such libraries could
open up access to library premisesmore broadly, to provide more access to
content in both print and "walk-in" electronic?  At Yale Library, we have
been fortunate to host European library interns and fellows from time to
time and send them home resolutely determined to change library access
conditions in their home countries.  Opening up our libraries in this way
would get us away from what seems the unhappy position of not wanting to
pay for research funded by taxpayers, while those same taxpayers also fund
the libraries they can't easily use.

Or is this unrealistic?

Sincerely, Ann Okerson/Yale Library