> The library has an additional consideration that the individual user does
> not: the method of providing OA must not interfere with the funding and
> existence of publications. I do not know whether or not "green" OA
> will eventually do so, and I think neither does anyone else.
My suspicion is that "green" OA will not pose a significant threat to traditional publishing models until it offers better access to readers. As things stand currently, the "green" approach makes articles freely available in theory, but not necessarily easily available in fact -- authors' self-archived copies are sometimes easy to find, but often not. This is a problem that will likely be solved by marketplace forces, as searching tools mature and improve. Until that happens, though, I think one (though not the only) thing that will keep traditional publishers in business will be the value they add by making articles easy to find.
---
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
Univ. of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand_at_unr.edu
Received on Sun Jul 10 2005 - 04:21:26 BST