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Open Access

Librarian

Mark Clemente's picture
Mark Clemente
Contact:
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
11055 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7151
216-368-3539

Get Online Help

Reminder: Online Access

  • Library resources require going through CWRU Single Sign-On.
  • The best method is to follow links from the library website.
  • When logged in and a browser window is not closed, access should continue from resource to resource.
  • Remember to close your browser when done.

The need for Open Access

Scholarly communication encompasses the systems and processes involved in the creation, dissemination, and preservation of knowledge. Many components of the scholarly communication system are continually evolving along with changes in technical infrastructure, social practices, and the economics of publishing. Libraries and their institutions can no longer keep up with the increasing volume and cost of scholarly publications. This is coupled with increasing restrictions on the use and re-use of journal articles and other scholarly publications, including the ability of authors to promote and share their own scholarship. The overall result is reduced access to the published literature.
 
  • increasing domination of a small number of commercial publishers
  • increase in volume of scholarly communication and increased specialization
  • rising subscription prices
  • development of new scholarly communication publishing models that are Internet-based
  • decreasing libraries budgets
  • increasing copyright restrictions may limit the use and re-use of journal articles

Open Access Explained!

Open Access Resources

What is Open Access?

Open access literature is simply defined as “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions."

A more detailed definition is:

free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.  The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.

-- From Budapest Open Access Initiative

Read more:

Suber, P. Open Access Overview.

Kelvin Smith Library

Kelvin Smith Library supports open access to scholarly and scientific research articles and data.

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