The Future of PubMed Central: Publicly Accessible, Digitally Equitable, Universally Valuable – NLM Musings from the Mezzanine

"Guest post by Kathryn Funk, MLIS, Program Manager for PubMed Central, and Maryam Zaringhalam, PhD, Data Science and Open Science Officer for the NLM Office of Strategic Initiatives.

Open access to scientific research results and public access to federally funded research outputs both help ensure that everyone can benefit from science. NLM has a longstanding commitment to supporting such access and creating tools and services that make research results publicly available. However, a library is only as effective as its ability to reach all communities. Making research results publicly available does not guarantee they are accessible to everyone. With this in mind, during International Open Access Week (October 21-27, 2024), NLM is looking to promote equitable open access to serve the public good by highlighting ongoing efforts to enable the digital accessibility of scientific publications in PubMed Central (PMC) for users with disabilities who use assistive technologies to access online content..."