In my event at Leicester today (/pmr/2014/04/03/my-talk-on-openaccess-at-university-of-leicester-2014-04-041300-utc/ ) I shall emphasise the wider picture. Since the audience has many from the library I’ll probably concentrate on that. So here are some questions – if anyone reads beforehand think of some answers to bring this
- Why do we want Open Access? One sentence only – just one clear major reason.
- Do you think Open Access is Open? Is it democratic or bureaucratic? authoritarian or libertarian?
- Where do you think Open Access WILL BE in 5 years time? Is that where you would want to be?
- Where would you LIKE Open Access to be like in 5 years time?
- Are you happy with the role of the current major publishers? Is the spend of 15 million USD / year reasonable?
- If it isn’t reasonable what could we design which would be a better way to spend the money?
- Should libraries implement the rules that publishers create (whether open or closed?) Or should universities tell publishers what they want and require it as service?
- Where is the innovation in scholarly communication? should it involve universities? if so, what should they do?
- What is the role of authors? Do they deserve anything different from now? can Open Access provide it? Can Universities?
- what is the role of readers? Who ARE the readers? Who SHOULD be the readers?
- Is our investment in Open Access providing value?
- What is the cost of a scholarly publication? What SHOULD be the cost? Think imaginatively.
- What is the VALUE of a scholarly publication? Are we getting value?
- What is the total cost of STEM research per year? What is its value? Are we getting value?
- If we continue in the same way, what events in the world will overtake us?