ALBERT

Description: The description of the Open Access transition, its mechanisms and actors, assigns a central role to libraries in this process and names various activities libraries may choose to actively observe their exposed role in the transition process. In this context the following recommendations are formulated: 1. Strategic and practical anchorage of open-access in the information provisioning of academic libraries. 2. Anchorage of Open Access in the licensing practice. It seems reasonable to close nationwide agreements with Open Access providers on general terms and conditions for scientific publishing in Open Access for all German scholarly institutions (Offsetting-contracts, APC-Framework contracts). Libraries can negotiate such agreements for themselves or participate in nationwide options. 3. Financing publication fees for Open Access journals (APCs) through acquisition budgets. This will successively ensue a shifting of funds from subscriptions in the acquisition departments to Open Access. A raise of funds for financing subscription fees out of the libraries’ own budgets or third party sponsoring (e.g. Open Access publication fund of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) should only be necessary on an interim basis, if at all. 4. Cross-institutional disclosure (open books) of subscription and Open Access fees as well as key data (ratios) on publication and related cash flow between academic institutions and publishers in Germany. The aim is to support the development of transparent markets and price-structures for scientific publishing. 5. Installation of efficient and scalable processes and services at libraries to organize coverage (of the costs) for Open Access articles by academic authors.