Information on Scholarly Communication
Resources for Learning About the Issue:
- ALA/ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit
This website summarizes the key issues in scholarly communication: copyright, journal prices, alternative publishing, and more.
- Create Change: A Resource for Faculty and Librarian Action to Reclaim Scholarly Communication
This website will help you understand the changing landscape and how it affects you and your research. It also offers practical ways to look out for your own interests as a researcher. Open Access brochure.
- The Crisis in Scholarly Communication: Impact and Solutions for the Iowa Regent Universities
- Information on open access journals and the Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Principles and Strategies for the Reform of Scholarly Communication (Association of College and Research Libraries)
- Scholarly Communication website from ARL (Association of Research Libraries)
One of ARL's strategic goals for 2005-2009 is the development of effective, extensible, sustainable, and economically viable models of scholarly communication that provide barrier-free access to quality information. This site reflects the efforts of the Scholarly Communication program to create new models for scholarly exchange that build on the widespread adoption of digital technologies and networking for research, teaching, and learning.
- SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition, an alliance promoting change in the system of scholarly publishing.
- Periodical Pricing Reports
- University Publishing in a Digital Age (Ithaka, July 26, 2007)
Scholars have a vast range of opportunities to distribute their work, from setting up web pages or blogs, to posting articles to working paper websites or institutional repositories, to including them in peer-reviewed journals or books. In American colleges and universities, access to the internet and World Wide Web is ubiquitous; consequently nearly all intellectual effort results in some form of “publishing”. Yet universities do not treat this function as an important, mission-centric endeavor. The result has been a scholarly publishing industry that many in the university community find to be increasingly out of step with the important values of the academy. This paper argues that a renewed commitment to publishing in its broadest sense can enable universities to more fully realize the potential global impact of their academic programs, enhance the reputations of their institutions, maintain a strong voice in determining what constitutes important scholarship, and in some cases reduce costs.
Electronic Newsletters on Scholarly Communication Issues for the UI Community
- Transitions: Scholarly Communication News for the UI Community
This electronic newsletter brings to readers’ attention some of the many new projects and developments affecting the current system of scholarly communication, with emphasis on new products and programs, the open access movement and other alternative publishing models. Scholarly communication refers to the full range of formal and informal means by which scholars and researchers communicate, from email discussion lists to peer-reviewed publication. In general authors are seeking to document and share new discoveries with their colleagues, while readers--researchers, students, librarians and others--want access to all the literature relevant to their work.
- Hardin Scholarly Communication News:
A Newsletter for the Health Sciences Campus at the University of Iowa
This electronic newsletter discusses a variety of topics that affect the current system of scholarly communication, with emphasis on new developments, open access and alternative publishing models in the health sciences.
Further Reading:
Hours 
Site Search
Ask a Librarian 
