The world of publishing continues to be transformed by (among other things) the Open Access Initiative or OAI. Cowles Library has been a longstanding proponent of this trend, as demonstrated by eScholarShare, our scholary “open” repository of publications by Drake students, faculty, and staff.
This is a trend that continues to accelerate, as Universities and Libraries continue to react against the skyrocketing costs of “traditional” publishing models. One concrete, and useful, example is the Open Science Directory (not just about science!) that I have described elsewhere. In addition to being a useful source for virtually anyone doing research, this project has a laudable goal: making research available to scientists and others in the developing world.