(from http://discover.library.utoronto.ca/open-access-week)
Open Access encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement and enjoyment of science and society.
Open Access is the principle that all research should be freely accessible online, immediately after publication, and it’s gaining ever more momentum around the world as research funders and policy makers throw their weight behind it. [From the openaccessweek.org website]. There are two routes to open access:
1. publishing in an openly accessible journal, monograph etc.
2. archiving your work in a research repository such as TSpace, ArXiv etc.
I think this is a great initiative – I’ve always thought that research, particularly research funded with public money, should come with it an obligation to publish results for the benefit of society (who after all, paid for it). I think its wonderful that the university would encourage faculty to publish works in open formats and open repositories.
However – the timing of open access week (October 19-23) comes on the heels of a University of Toronto Libraries decision to charge graduate students from other universities $200 per year to access collections held by the university. This fee was already in place for members of the public who wish to use university resources.
The reasons given are the usual, that a multi million dollar budget shortfall forces fees like this – but if information from blogto (http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/10/are_robarts_library_fees_an_unfair_financial_burden_on_graduate_students/) is correct, then fees from Ryerson students, who we would expect to be the heaviest borrowers, would only make up $80k annually. I think that the fees fly in the face of academic cooperation and with increasing budgetary pressures, when universities should be cooperating to avoid duplication and increase inter-library lending of resources, the university is instead closing its doors.
I would even go so far as to say that I support the elimination of the fee to the public – or at least eliminate the fee for those just wanting to access the library and not borrow resources. With a published operating budget of $1.4 billion the recovery value seems so small.
The library itself should also consider its own mission statement “The mission of the University of Toronto Library is to foster the search for knowledge and understanding in the University and the wider community. To this end, we shall provide innovative services and comprehensive access to information founded upon our developing resources as one of the leading research libraries in the world” – apparently the part about the wider community and comprehensive access to information is only for those that can afford it.
