Survey of Librarian Attitudes about Open Access

Presenters:
Emily Dill, Public Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus
Kristi Palmer, Bibliographic and Metadata Services Librarian, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Friday, July 13, 2007
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM in SFUHC Earl and Jennie Lohn Floor Policy Room

Abstract



Emily Dill and Kristi Palmer presented the results of a survey sent out to US academic librarians on their attitudes about open access (using the short OA definition from Peter Suber). Of the 1300 questionnaires sent, they received 261 responses. The presentation slides above show the result of the survey.

Their presentation touched on a very interesting topic, as the audience responded with enthusiastic questions at the end of the session. One noteworthy suggestion from the audience was to follow up the survey with a qualitative study to get a better picture of the situation.

Commentary

Library associations are responding to the invitation from the Budapest Open Access Initiative to join the open access movement. An example is the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Initiative. At the same time, Emily and Kristi see the need to find out about how librarians, who are supposed to be at the front-line of the open access advocacy, actually feel about this. In this way, they are making a contribution to the library associations in gaining insight that would allow the organizations to tailor their effort for open access advocacy internally.