The Role of Academic Libraries in Building Open Communities of Scholars

This paper describes three important pillars of publishing programs emerging at university libraries: providing a robust publishing platform, engaging the academic community in discussions about scholarly communication, and building a suite of production level services. The experiences of the Public Knowledge Project, the Simon Fraser University Library, and the University of Toronto Library’s journal hosting service are examined as case studies. Detailed information is provided about the development of the Public Knowledge Project, its goals and history, and the tools it offers. Campus activities at Simon Fraser University have been coordinated to support the use of PKP tools, and to raise awareness on campus about the changing landscape of scholarly publishing. The University of Toronto’s journal hosting service is profiled as another example. The role of university libraries in bringing together scholars, publishing tools and new models of scholarly publishing is considered.