Digital Library Center Blog | UF

International Publishers and Librarians Agree to Enhance The Debate on Open Access

Geneva/The Hague 20 May 2009 - For immediate release

A joint statement released today by the International Publishers Association, the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical (STM) Publishers, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) calls for a more rational, evidence based debate on open access. It encourages experimentation and piloting of new concepts and ideas, whilst acknowledging that the differences in the different academic disciplines and publishing traditions may lead to differentiated approaches and business models in support of authors.

The joint statement is intended to move the oftentimes heated and polarised debate about open access as a model for scholarly communication towards a more measured and nuanced discourse.

Says IPA President Herman P. Spruijt “The debate about open access is important and publishers welcome it. Publishing is never at a standstill and we should not fear change. Now that more experience has been gained with open access publishing and now that data is available on its success, the open access debate should be able to move away from emotional accusations and oversimplification. Our discussions with IFLA on this topic are always spirited, but have become more insightful and less polarised as we moved towards facts, evidence and differentiated arguments. There is a lesson here to be learned for the public debate on this issue.”

Says IFLA Working Group co-chairman Ingrid Parent: “IFLA is pleased to announce the joint declaration on open access with IPA. This statement shows that both our associations share the important objective of providing the broadest possible access to information. IFLA and IPA believe publishers and librarians have a lot to gain by supporting innovation, experimentation and pilot projects in developing open access to scholarly publications.”

Notes for Editors:
The full text of the statement is available here.

More about IPA:
The International Publishers Association (IPA) is an international industry federation representing all aspects of book and journal publishing. Established in 1896, IPA’s mission is to promote and protect publishing and to raise awareness for publishing as a force for economic, cultural and political development. Around the world IPA actively fights against censorship and promotes copyright, literacy and freedom to publish.

More about IFLA:
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. IFLA promotes the principles of freedom of access to information, ideas and works of imagination and freedom of expression. The delivery of high quality and equitable library and information services helps guarantee that access and improve the social, educational, cultural, democratic and economic well-being of those communities and organizations libraries serve. IFLA has 1600 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world.

CALL FOR PAPERS:
World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Council
“Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage”
23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy
Deadline Extended to 15 January 2009
CALL FOR PAPERS

The IFLA annual congress provides an opportunity to present library research and outcomes in Information Technology and Innovation in a multi-disciplinary international forum. The IFLA Information Technology Section invites technologists, librarians and other interested parties working in the field of digital library infrastructure to submit proposals for papers in a 2-hour session in Milan, Italy.

SESSION THEME

New repositories: architectures interoperability and data exchange

THE TOPIC

This theme will cover issues of (technical / data driven) interoperability for all types of libraries when dealing with the massing up of digital repositories in a manner that supports open services, including the convergence with archiving solutions and new challenges for digital libraries from the point of view of services versus user impact. In keeping with the theme of the 75th World Library and Information Congress, “Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage”, we invite papers that showcase:

• Successful models of interoperability between different types of digital archives and repositories.
• Various experiences in data exchange between multimedia archives.
• New services based on successful interoperability solutions, as distributed systems and federated access to digital archives/repositories.
• Development of open APIs and open source solutions which helps to facilitate advanced services based on metadata from various type s of collections and organisations.
• Case studies in open source application deployment (eg. Library Management Systems) that enhances digital archive interoperability between a diverse range of libraries.

SUBMISSIONS

1. The deadline for submitting a detailed, abstract (500 words) and full author details is 15 January 2009. Selection of papers is based on the abstract, and presenters will be notified by mid-February 2009 at the latest whether they have been successful.
2.  All submissions should be sent to Alenka Kavcic-Colic, Secretary of the Information Technology Section, e-mail: alenka.kavcic@nuk.uni-lj.si.
3. The full paper is due on 31 May 2009 and must be an original submission not published elsewhere.
4. Both abstracts and full papers should be submitted as a MS Word file by e-mail; fax or post should be used only as a last resort.
5. Papers should be of up to 4000 words.
6. Papers should be in English with an abstract, and the presenter must be fluent in English.
7. 20 minutes will be allowed for a summary delivery of the paper in the Conference.
8. The author(s) should indicate his/her personal full contact details and include a summary curriculum vitae with the paper. Also, a digital photograph would be useful.

Invited are the following types of contributions: papers, research studies and reports on practices and advances that will be presented at the conference and included on the conference Web site. The abstracts will be reviewed by members of the Information Technology Section’s Standing Committee. 15-20 minutes will be allowed for a summary delivery of the paper during the Section’s open programme in Milano.

Selected papers can be nominated by the committee for inclusion in the IFLA Congress Journal. Some papers not selected for the IT Session may be selected for publishing in ITS Newsletter.

TRAVEL & ATTENDANCE COSTS

Please note that the expenses of attending the Milano conference (including travel, expenses and conference fee) will be the responsibility of the author(s)/presenter(s) of accepted papers, and at least one of the presenters/authors must be present for the program.