Why Open Access?

During the 2013 Spring semester, the Library, Information Resources, and Technology Committee (LIRTC) brought an Open Access resolution to the College of Wooster’s faculty for its consideration. From LIRTC’s perspective, we have found several points very compelling in our deliberations about why an Open Access resolution is consistent with our institutional mission and scholarly values:

• This policy, focused on faculty and staff scholarly publications, would serve as a positive model for our students as they create and share new knowledge.

• Making our scholarship available in an openly accessible repository enhances the visibility and impact of our research, creating new avenues for the dissemination of your scholarship in a digital and highly interdisciplinary environment.

• The policy advocates for free access to scholarship and views information as a public good, values that resonate with our mission and philosophy of education.

• Our resolution makes a statement in support of new, economically sustainable models of scholarly communication.

• Open access scholarship reduces geographic and economic barriers to information and reinforces our institutional commitment to engaging a diverse and global community of learners.

The faculty voted to pass the resolution during the March 4, 2013 faculty meeting.