Remember when you had to walk to your university library to read a book? Will that practice go the way of dial telephones and VCRs? Open access issues are being fueled by efforts such as Google and Microsoft's widely publicized plans to digitize the contents of academic libraries. Recently Google added the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, "one of Europe's most-visited research libraries", to its digitization project.
Another digitization project administered by the Internet Archive is the rapidly growing Open Content Alliance (OCA) which includes participation by Tufts University's Perseus Digital Library, the Boston Public Library, Boston Library Consortium, Biodiversity Heritage Library, universities such as Johns Hopkins, Emory, Columbia and Rice. The Smithsonian Institution Libraries are also a contributor.
This digitization and open access trend has some university presses worried. Recently the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) released a statement "outlining its perspective on the controversial issue of free or "open" access to scholarly literature, including scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journal articles."
You can read the AAUP Statement on Open Access at
http://aaupnet.org/aboutup/issues/oa/statement.pdf.
