University of Marlyland's Open Access Deliberations

["Okerson, Ann" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

[MOD NOTE:  Surely one of the less compelling reasons for having 
authors publish in OA journals is that academic libraries, at 
least in the western world, would save money on subscription 
prices?  Even if such a thing were known to be true?  Is it time 
that we base our arguments on something other than the dated 
rhetoric of the "journals pricing crisis?"]

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Faculty sens. battle over open access
By: Tirza Austin
Posted: 4/24/09

An unforeseen debate erupted at the University Senate meeting 
yesterday about where faculty members should be encouraged to 
publish their research.

After more than half an hour of debate, the senate voted against 
a resolution that called for faculty members to publish their 
work in free online databases. Despite the potential savings 
open-access journals could bring to the university, the senate 
voted the resolution down in a 37-24 decision, due to perceived 
impositions on academic freedom.

"[The cost of scholarly journals] has to be one of the most 
challenging issues we have at this university," Senate Chair Ken 
Holum said.

The defeated resolution, proposed by the senate's faculty affairs 
committee, laid out four specific suggestions: for university 
President Dan Mote to advocate for open-access journals on a 
national level, to urge the libraries to educate faculty on the 
cost of journals and to encourage faculty to publish their 
research in open-access journals and deposit findings in 
open-access databases whenever possible.

Because so many faculty members are published in research 
journals that require subscriptions, the university has to pay 
for access to numerous journals every year. Dan Falvey, the 
chairman of the committee that authored the resolution, 
emphasized the proposal was not a university policy and didn't 
mandate any changes, but was rather intended to spark discussion 
about other options for journal access. But, Holum said, the 
discussion it sparked was largely "gloom and doom."

"Open access will kill the journals you need during your career," 
women's studies professor and university senator Claire Moses 
said. "It's as simple as that."

While everyone acknowledged that the high cost of scholarly 
journals and slimming library budgets needed to be addressed, 
many felt it was too soon to instate anything resembling 
university policy.

Terry Owen, a librarian who is a university senator, defended 
open-access publications, saying that because the publications do 
not require authors to assign copyright to a publisher, scholars 
can retain the rights to their own work.

"The final goal is to make information more accessible and 
available," Owen said.

But Moses, who has served as editorial director of the journal 
Feminist Studies since 1977, said any action promoting publishing 
only in open-access journals would harm the visibility of the 
university and its faculty members - especially its tenured 
faculty members.

Senators criticized the proposal for its language, which they 
said did not accurately characterize the variations that exist 
between departments. Throughout the debate, science professors 
faced off against humanities professors - a rift caused by the 
vast differences between scientific journals and humanities 
journals.

"This is a proposal that does not take into account the needs of 
different disciplines," history professor Gay Gullickson said. 
"[Open access] applies well to some disciplines and hurts 
others."

Both Moses and Gullickson argued the resolution's language was 
too strong to count as a mere suggestion and would eventually 
lead to university policy.

"This does not call for discussion - it urges the president to 
take action," Gullickson said.

But Holum predicted this will not be the last time the senate 
discusses the issue of open-access publications. He added the 
situation facing the libraries will have to be addressed in the 
near future.

Arts and humanities Dean James Harris, who also served as the 
chairman of the search committee that will help elect a new dean 
of the library system, said every candidate he has encountered 
expressed concern over the state of scholarly publications, 
noting students turn to online search engines like Google rather 
than going to a library. Harris added that libraries are slowly 
becoming virtual and the university will eventually have to 
transition with them.

"This is happening," Harris said. "The train has left the 
station."

taustindbk@gmail.com
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