The Crisis in Scholarly Communication, Part I: Understanding the Issues and Engaging Your Faculty

Abstract

Given the rising costs of journal subscriptions and the difficulty that authors have in retaining rights to their own works, reform in the scholarly publishing industry is needed. This article, the first in a two-part series, presents an overview of the crisis in scholarly communication and discusses the groundwork that must be laid in order to develop successful programs to address the crisis on college and university campuses. As the de facto centers of scholarship and research on campus, libraries must educate faculty and advocate for more sustainable publishing models. Programs developed by the Boston Library Consortium and its member institutions are discussed.