51. évfolyam, 2005. 1. szám

Archívum

Open Access on the offensive?
A report to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament

Reviewed by KOLTAY, Tibor

Könyvtári Figyelő (Library Review) vol. 15. (51.) 2005. no. 1. pp. 75 – 81.

The 10th report (2003) of the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons of the UK parliament contains a number of positive elements in connection with the political support to expanding access to scientific information. As the report states, due to the serious constraints on library budgets, libraries are cancelling their journal subscriptions. As a consequence, publishers suffer revenue loss, while library users’ unrestricted access to information is jeopardised too. It is a common interest to keep the costs at an affordable level, based on an agreement acceptable for all players of the scientific information market. Free of charge access leads to a more effective use of scientific literature and enhances the return on public money invested in research. Similar conclusions can be found in the Action Plan of the World Summit on the Information Society that draws the attention to the initiatives facilitating access to scientific literature by affordable subscription prices, or by open access journals and books, as well as open access archives. Electronic-only publishing, differentiated price models as well as open access initiatives are strongly recommended by WSIS.

Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Észrevételek