Libraries have a role in making sure that patrons are not locked out from the data and findings produced by publicly funded researchers. In 2022, the White House issued a directive that pushed academic publishing into a more open direction with a mandate to make all publicly funded research freely available with no wait times by 2025. Academic publishers have traditionally been able to make money from these articles for up to 12 months before making them open for anyone to access.
The National Library of Medicine maintains a useful public database - PubMed - that is a tremendous resource for anyone who needs to find open access articles. This guide provides steps on how to find these articles without the need to make an interlibrary loan request. Columbia College librarians gladly process loan requests for articles and books, but sometimes these requests can take several days to fulfill for our patrons. PubMed can quickly fulfill needs for some medical literature requests.
Sources
Brainard, J. & Kaiser, J. (2022, August 26). White House required immediate public access to all U.S.-funded research papers by 2025. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/white-house-requires-immediate-public-access-all-u-s--funded-research-papers-2025
Tennant, J. P., Waldner, F., Jacques, D. C., Masuzzo, P., Collister, L. B., & Hartgerink, C. H. (2016). The academic, economic and societal impacts of Open Access: an evidence-based review. F1000Research, 5, 632. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.8460.3
The White House. (2022, August 25). OSTP issues guidance to make federally funded research freely available without delay. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/08/25/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay
