In light of Aaron Swartz's death, Professor Kelsey Kauffman (whose daughter was dating Swartz at the time of his death) has initiated a discussion about the accessibility of information. She is requesting that DePauw University support the adoption of an open-access policy in regards to scholarly journals.
The DePauw Editorial Board agrees with her.
As it stands, academic journal publishers are making a lot of money off of these fees, from schools including DePauw, by charging users to access information. As an academic institution we need access to such resources, but the price that accompanies this access is exorbitant. Schools shouldn't have to put such a vast amount of money toward academic journals that our own professors wrote in the first place.
These academic journals are similar to scalpers who buy out event tickets only to resell them to the public at four times their original price. And to make this even worse, the publishing companies aren't even paying the authors for their work. Essentially, publishing companies are ridiculously expensive middle men preventing easy access to higher education.
Roy O. West spends 85% of its $1 million annual operating budget so that students and faculty can access these articles. Think about how different our library could be if we could use this money elsewhere.
An open-access policy is the answer. Several of the Ivy League schools, including Harvard, have adopted the policy, in addition to many state universities and even a few small liberal arts colleges. If DePauw joins, articles that our professors publish would be accessible to anyone for free online, not just those who have the cash to pay for it.
While adding our voice into the conversation may not result in any immediate change to our information systems, it's important to take a stance. Aaron Swartz believed that knowledge should not be something people have to pay for. We agree. Access to information is how a society develops -- and we're talking about intellectual growth, not economic growth.
To the faculty, when it comes time to vote, we encourage you to vote for open-access. This would prevent you from having to buy back your own articles from libraries like JSTOR, Academic Search Premier and Lexis/Nexis Academic. The first amendment states the people's right to free speech, religion and freedom of the press. The right that should follow closely is public access to academic resources.