The task of building an “open access culture”

"When I first read that phrase “open access culture,” I was instantly captivated by its significance. I want to thank Kevin Smith for giving me something powerful to hang the mission (the “task”) of this site upon. Embracing or promoting open access isn’t just a matter of pragmatics, techniques, or technologies. Open access is a way of approaching the creation and dissemination of information that involves certain attitudes and behavioral characteristics. As such, it truly is a culture, and one that takes further unique shape within the scholarly discipline where it manifests itself. Open access culture within the study of religion or theology may share certain applications and outcomes with chemistry, physics, or economics, but (as alluded to above) it also integrates each discipline’s unique research traditions and values/commitments. (This very point surfaced in my recent profile of the journal Religion and Gender.) Smith suggests that the mission statements of theological associations such as the Association of Theological Schools and the American Theological Library Association already contain wording that could be leveraged to support enhancement of information access in the direction of open access...."