Review: Peter Suber’s Open Access (The MIT Press, 2012)—now also open access! | Omega Alpha | Open Access

"I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I haven’t gotten around to writing this review sooner. I mean, Peter Suber’s book Open Access (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-51763-8) has been out for a year now. Richard Poynder, in a 2011 interview for Information Today, declared Suber the 'the de facto leader of the leaderless [open access] revolution.' Given the well-earned accolade you would think this would merit more of my attention. Blame it on my day-job. Still, I shouldn’t have dawdled, especially considering my own interest and advocacy in open access. Perhaps I can make amends by being among the first to offer a 'second wave' review of Suber’s Open Access. For you see, the print edition was published in June 2012, and fittingly and without irony Suber negotiated with The MIT Press to have an e-book edition available as a free open access download 12 months later. The open access e-book edition of Suber’s book is now available for download (as of June 17, 2013) from links on the title’s webpage. The print edition is not very expensive, and every library/librarian, faculty member, and researcher should own a copy. But I suspect the open access e-book edition (released with a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC license) will generate renewed interest and an even broader readership. Having anticipated eventually getting around to this I consciously avoided reading earlier reviews so as not to be influenced by their 'take' ..."