Themes from IDCC 2010

"Library involvement in the open access movement in the United States is in trouble. I don’t think the movement has entirely come to grips with that yet, but it is. As the “Cassandra of open access,” I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something. I see a fair few symptoms. SCOAP3 is going down to the wire. COPE is floundering. When asked to pony up money for open access, I hear librarians and library administrators saying “Look, I thought OA was supposed to fix this budget crisis; instead, it’s making my budget picture worse. In fact, when I go ask for more money for serials, I get asked why OA hasn’t fixed the problem yet. Go find some other sucker; I’m done propping up this sad little sham of yours.” If that’s not bad enough, OA is quietly, steadily losing its footsoldiers in libraries whose institutions don’t boast OA mandates...."