This is in response to Dr. Arunachalam's mail and Mr. Sukhdev Singh's comment Could one of you (or anyone on the list) explain this in a fairly simple and brief note - I have not had the time to go deep into this........... How has the U Michigan managed to put on the web - books that are still copyright protected? Unless Indian libraries know the complete legal process involved, we cannot do this. Further I would be interested in knowing people's opinions on how open access will work in the long run? As a professional librarian, I definitely will be the happiest to see everything being available free. But the practical human being in me thinks "Someone has got to pay for all this". And being in the medical line, I am aware that approx 70% of healthcare in India is provided by private practitioners. I dont know the percentage of private practitioners who write articles, but I know that several of them do. If all journals became open access, and the publishing is funded by Institutions, then how will private practitioners write? Who will pay for their articles? Simply depositing them in open access repositories do not guarantee the reach out to audience, and then there is a question about the acceptability of it as a publication, if it is not in a regular journal Please note - I am not trying to raise any debate of pro or anti open access. I am genuinely wanting to learn about the best ways in which people can get access to all published information - either free, or at reasonable / affordable costs. I would hate to see some good efforts go because of wrong ways of implementation. I also openly admit that I do not know all developments that have happened so far about open access. I welcome any knowledge bits that people will provide me. Regards Vasumathi