One major and recurrent theme of the scholarly communication column is the question, What can librarians do to help bring about fundamental changes in the system of scholarly communication? This question is at the heart of both the ACRL Scholarly Communications Initiative (1) and the Scholarly Communications Toolkit.(2) To answer this question, several principles of reform have emerged:(3)
* the broadest possible access to published research;
* increased control by scholars and the academy over publishing;
* fair and reasonable prices for scholarly information;
* open access to scholarship;
* innovations in publishing that reduce distribution costs, speed delivery, and extend access to scholarly research;
* quality assurance in publishing through peer review;
* fair use of copyrighted information for education and research purposes; and
* preservation of scholarly information for long-term future use.
Though different strategies for achieving reform have been identified, one that appears most frequently is that of building partnerships to help bring about change. One central ACRL document indicates that "the purpose of the ACRL scholarly communications initiative is to work in partnership with other library and higher education organizations to encourage reform in the system of scholarly communications and to broaden the engagement of academic libraries in scholarly communications issues." (4) The publishing and funding models of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) do precisely that, both by a) promoting the goals, principles, and methods identified above, and b) presenting the kind of enterprise that warrants "engagement" and support from academic libraries.
* Please see actual article for references.
