Abstract

RODRIGUEZ GALLARDO, Adolfo. Acceso abierto y bibliotecas académicas. Rev. Interam. Bibliot [online]. 2007, vol.30, n.1, pp.93-104. ISSN 0120-0976.

Among all types of libraries, academic libraries have been those most affected by the continuing increase in the prices of scientific and scholarly journals. While publishers speculated with their subscription prices, some university libraries were forced to cut back on the acquisition of books, or to sacrifice some other services, in order to continue with the subscriptions required by their users. Other libraries dealt with the market conditions by means of cooperative acquisition programs, consortia, and even interlibrary loan arrangements with other libraries. In this article this situation was evaluated from several points of view both by the libraries and the universities to which they belong, and they concluded that in addition to the economic implications, scientific communication is seen as seriously threatened by the current models of information commercialization. In response to this threat, several declarations and initiatives have arisen that have resulted in the founding of the movement for open access to scientific and scholarly information. This article is an introduction to the subject which examines the factors common to the initiatives that have been generated on the publication of free access.

Keywords : Open access publishing; Academic libraries; Scientific journals; Scientific communications; Cooperative acquisition; Open access.

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