Chapter 8: Public
Open access in not free access; Willinsky admits that someone is going to pay for it. He now asks whether open access is public access. Yes, open access is public access only when the presence of the technology necessary for open access is available to all. However, Willinsky argues that waiting for the economic divide to lessen is not an excuse to wait for open access. The public has a right to scholarly research; information is a right not a reward (discussed in more detail in Chapter 10).
According to Willinsky, “six million Americans go online each day in search of information about health issues” (114). Is this a good thing or not? Some suggest that the public has too much access and certain information can be detrimental to society. Willinsky argues that adequate indexing (discussed in more detail in Chapter 12) will help the issue by preventing a simple “dumping” of journals into “people’s laps or laptops.”
Willinsky outlines indexing in more detail in appendix F.