Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access, edited by Ulrich Herb and Joachim Schöpfel

Abstract

Open access is frequently a topic of conversation in library and information studies courses. Usually imbued with hints of social justice, progressivism, and equality, professors and students alike often point to open access as something that librarianship “got right.” On a personal level, while working with document delivery in a large biomedical library, I became an enthusiastic supporter of open access articles and journals that allowed me to save staff time and deliver content to our patrons more expeditiously. After reading Open Divide: Critical Studies on Open Access, my relationship with open access is no longer quite so simple. Open Divide lays the concept of open access bare, making note of its benefits, but also clearly exposing its flaws, faults, and corruptions.