Open Access, Libraries, and Newspapers: New Roles and Convergences? Dr. Ajit Pyati Assistant Professor Faculty of Information and Media Studies University of Western Ontario IFLA International Newspaper Conference 28 February 2010

Todays Talk -Libraries, newspapers, and the public sphere -Open access -Crises affecting both libraries and newspapers -New partnerships between libraries and newspapers?

PUBLIC SPHERE

JURGEN HABERMAS

BOURGEOIS PUBLIC SPHERE Development in 17 th /18 th century Britain during rise of capitalism; decline in mid to late 20 th century Rational, open debate Independence from state and economy/market

PUBLIC SPHERE INSTITUTIONS Mass Media Public broadcasting (radio & TV) Museums and art galleries Libraries Newspapers

CORRUPTION OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE? Mass media consolidation Advertising Propaganda Misinformation

Library Crises Electronic licensing of journals prohibitively expensive for many libraries Concentration of academic publishers - monopoly over scholarly knowledge production Increasing commodification of knowledge/information Movement from print to electronic journal environment An end to the library as we know it?

Scholarly Publishing Context Pricing and permissions crisis Vanity factor in academic publishing Social impact of research and knowledge dissemination Changes in technology Financial incentives in scholarly publishing

The Access Principle Willinsky, J. (2006). The access principle: The case for open access to research and scholarship. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. A commitment to the value and quality of research carries with it a responsibility to extend the circulation of this work as far as possible, and ideally to all who are interested in it and all who might profit by it… (p. 5)

Different Types of OA Repositories OA journals Self-archiving Delayed OA Policies on publicly-funded research Etc.

Benefits of open access? Drawbacks? Challenges? Incompatible with peer review? Free to access? Free to create? Faculty incentives? Copyright concerns?

Newspaper Crises Shift to digital environment; declining importance of print circulation Reduced advertisement revenues; search for new revenue models Cutbacks and layoffs Mass media consolidation

BIG MEDIA CORPORATE CONTROL - MONOPOLIZATION SPECTACLE CONSUMERISM RATIONAL DEBATE? DIALOGUE?

Open Access, Libraries, and Newspapers?

New Convergences? Convergence based on principles of open access; the access principle Libraries hosting digital community and local newspapers? Providing indexing and abstracting services? Maintaining community newspaper archives?

Alternative Media In contrast to mainstream, corporate-owned media Community radio Social media Community newspapers Etc.

Public Knowledge Project Open Journal Systems (OJS) – Electronic journal publishing software; open source ( Worldwide uptake – Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia electronic journals in Africa using OJS Strengthening African Research Culture and Capacities project

Revenue Models? Subscription costs used for indexing and archiving Open source newspaper publishing platforms? Free and open access content for selected sections; fee for access for other content New public funding models for newspaper-library partnerships? Etc.

Final Thoughts Importance of public/community libraries and newspapers to the democratic public sphere Convergence based on principles of open access Re-envisioning the library as a hub of civic activity and democracy