Transforming Scholarly Communication

The current system of scholarly communication exhibits persistent signs of crisis, including, but not limited to:

• increasing control by commercial interests,
• rapidly rising prices for scholarly journals,
• declines in the publication of specialized monographs by university presses,
• and limits on fair use and public domain information.

These trends are producing significant declines in access to scholarship. At the same time, many individuals and organizations are working for positive change in the system, creating new models of publication, such as open access journals, and advocating public policies that are more responsive to the needs of scholarship. Change is also being fostered by technological developments and economic necessity.

The Library actively supports reform of existing systems of formal scholarly communication, and invites all scholars to join the discussion and become active on these issues. Of utmost concern is the need to maintain rigorous peer review and scholarly evaluation, while increasing access and assuring preservation of the scholarly record.