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- 92 - CHAPTER 5 projects in order to collaboratively solve education challenges around the world. Be sure to briefly tell us (1) why you’d like to join and (2) who you are—this helps CC avoid accepting “spammers.”

5.1 | OPEN ACCESS TO SCHOLARSHIP

What is Open Access scholarly literature? Open Access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Open Access stands in contrast to the existing “closed” system for communicating scientific and scholarly research. This system is slow, expensive, and ill-suited for research collaboration and discovery. And even though scholarly research is largely produced as a result of public funding, the results are often hidden behind technical, legal, and financial barriers or paywalls. Open Access publishing is an alternative model—one that takes full advantage of digital technologies, the web, and open licensing to provide free access to scholarship.


 * Define Open Access
 * Explain the benefits of Open Access for your learners and for researchers at your institution
 * Understand how authors and researchers can make their own works Open Access

The purpose of scientific inquiry at a university is the fundamental search for knowledge. Teaching, the open exchange of ideas, and the process of publishing original research are all methods by which academic faculty, learners, staff, and others contribute to advancing scholarship.

How well do the current practices of accessing and sharing information within the university system reflect and support the stated goals of research and scholarship?

This chapter will explore how the practice of Open Access publishing aligns with the goals of improving access to knowledge, and how librarians can support colleges and universities in implementing Open Access practices and policies.