Our long-term goal with this work is to be part of a sustainable system for sharing academic research that is deeply and fully aligned with our mission and values, open by default, and accessible to all authors and readers. Our work on this is deeply informed by the professional and organizational values we hold as librarians and members of the JMU community.
As we engage with vendors, we will:
- advocate for “practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially equitable,” as referenced in the core values of librarianship shared by the American Library Association.
- work to ensure that we “pursue ethical reasoning” as we proceed, as JMU’s value of integrity would have us do.
- work collectively and in solidarity with our Virginia Research Libraries peers.
- provide the resources necessary to meet the needs of our community, as JMU Libraries always aspires to do.
Ultimately, by increasing access to journals, we will demonstrate our commitment to an important aspect of our own diversity statement: providing access to “collections… that reflect a variety of perspectives and lived experiences.”
As “user-oriented focus” is one of the JMU Libraries’ key values, we will listen to you — the researchers, teachers, leaders, and students on our campus — in the coming months as we develop and pursue our strategy for this important work. Our success will depend on your engagement, feedback, and support, and we look forward to working together.