From: Ivy Anderson <[log in to unmask]>Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2018 19:09:10 +0000
Hi Rick,
You’re such a stickler for language… ;-)
Without wishing to assert that anything I say here represents the views of the entirety of the University of California, since many hands went into drafting this statement, and of course we are a large and diverse system –
We would like to see a scholarly publishing system emerge in which funding for publication does not interfere with or impose barriers to dissemination and re-use. As a public institution that takes its public service mission seriously, we believe the fruits of UC scholarship should be open to the citizens and scholars of California, the nation, and the world. Clearly this won’t happen overnight, and certainly there are disciplines, genres, and formats that present more challenges than others. The statement we’ve drafted refers specifically to the research journal literature, but like many other institutions, we have experiments and initiatives underway in the monographic space as well. And while many consider open access more feasible in the sciences than in non-STEM fields, making the humanities and social sciences literature open is arguably even more important as a means of informing public policy and stimulating intellectual inquiry. So this is just to say that we would hope that toll access publishing would eventually – and sooner rather than later if we can marshal the collective will – operate under a business model or models that are no longer predicated on restricting and metering access.
So my answer is yes – we envision a world that puts an end to toll access scholarly publishing.
But let’s also avoid the mistake of making the perfect the enemy of the good – the more we can accomplish, the better, and the sooner, the better.
Ivy Anderson
Associate Executive Director & Director of Collections
California Digital Library
University of California, Office of the President