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Scholarly
Communication
The Scholarly Communications Crisis? What's the Problem?
Scholarly communication, the system by
which research and other scholarship is created, evaluated, disseminated,
and preserved, has existed as a public good to promote inquiry and
knowledge. Today, it is a system in crisis. New knowledge is
less accessible to would-be researchers because libraries and other
organizations cannot afford to purchase journals due to the constant,
significant annual cost increases of commercial publishers.
Researchers feed this process by signing away their publication rights to
publishers. Scholarly book publication has diminished because
libraries, etc. have diverted funding to rising serial (i.e. journal)
costs. Researchers have fewer opportunities to publish a book.
Electronic publishing is a promising avenue to address these problems but
it has its own challenges.
What is the IUP Libraries doing or has
it done?
- Cancelled costly subscriptions,
- Acquired electronic journals and
databases at the lowest cost and maximum consortial discounts,
- Initiated a study of how to create an
institutional digital repository for electronic resources, locally
produced or held,
- Held a Technology Town Hall meeting for Campus discussion of the
issues.
What can you do?
- Inform yourself and encourage discussion
of the topic,
- Seek, if possible, to publish in
open-access journals,
- Modify, if possible, agreements with
your publishers to ensure your right to use your work,
- Encourage your professional society to
maintain reasonable prices and consider creating competition for
high-cost commercial titles,
- Examine the pricing, copyright, and
licensing agreements of journals you contribute to as an author,
reviewer, or editor--and consider using your influence in support of
lowering costs and increasing access to costly titles.
- Support your library's efforts to
address the matter.
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