SCONUL: Briefing on mandatory open access policies
abernard102@gmail.com 2013-11-03
Summary:
"Those of us leading academic libraries in the UK have been long-term proponents of greater
open access to the outputs of academic research. We welcomed the Government’s
engagement with this issue and support their view that removing barriers to accessing
taxpayer funded research will have real economic and social benefits.
While the debate over the benefits of the “Gold” versus “Green” approach to Open Access
will undoubtedly continue, the introduction of new requirements from research funders has
brought a series of immediate practical challenges. This briefing has been produced to
support SCONUL members in meeting those challenges. It does not consider or debate the
wider political and economic questions about the future of open access policy but instead
delivers guidance and practical experience in meeting funder requirements.
It includes a short history of Open Access developments; provides a clear statement of
funder requirements and lists further resources which SCONUL members may find helpful. It
highlights learning from a survey of members and case studies. These provide insight into
how peer institutions are changing their policies and processes to meet the new
requirements.
Given the university library’s central place in institutional life it is unsurprising that our survey
and case studies suggest that it is libraries that are taking the lead in setting up the systems
and processes necessary within their own institutions. Library staff have a real depth of
knowledge of academic publishing developed over years of handling payments to, and
negotiations with, academic publishers. Libraries are also the repositories of significant
expertise in handling the financial and bibliographic data which will be core to the new
systems. "