Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 03:38:35 +0530 (IST)
From: Subbiah Arunachalam
Friends:
Here is a great book on open access. eter Suber recommends it
whole-heartedly. LIS teachers and students might wish to read this and
possibly discuss it in the classroom. Policymakers (in higher education,
science and technology and university administration) would do well to
read this book.
Arun
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John Willinsky's book, The Access Principle
John Willinsky's book, The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to
Research and Scholarship (MIT Press, 2005) is now shipping. From the MIT
description:
In The Access Principle, John Willinsky describes the latest chapter in
[an] ongoing story -- online open access publishing by scholarly journals
-- and makes a case for open access as a public good. A commitment to
scholarly work, writes Willinsky, carries with it a responsibility to
circulate that work as widely as possible: this is the access principle.
In the digital age, that responsibility includes exploring new publishing
technologies and economic models to improve access to scholarly work. Wide
circulation adds value to published work; it is a significant aspect of
its claim to be knowledge. The right to know and the right to be known are
inextricably mixed. Open access, argues Willinsky, can benefit both a
researcher-author working at the best-equipped lab at a leading research
university and a teacher struggling to find resources in an impoverished
high school. Willinsky describes different types of access...discusses the
contradictions of copyright law, the reading of research, and the economic
viability of open access. He also considers broader themes of public
access to knowledge, human rights issues, lessons from publishing history,
and "epistemological vanities." The debate over open access, writes
Willinsky, raises crucial questions about the place of scholarly work in a
larger world -- and about the future of knowledge. John Willinsky is
Pacific Press Professor of Literacy and Technology at the University of
British Columbia.
Peter Suber says:
Congratulations, John. I'm glad to reaffirm my blurb from the jacket:
John Willinsky understands the way the Internet changes everything for
scholarly communication and has written a clear and compelling defense of
open access, both in principle and in practice. I recommend it especially
for its treatment of copyright issues and the special situation of
scholarly societies and developing countries.
