Open Access – Free Access to Primary Legal Materials

This brief presentation addressed free access to primary legal materials, discussing the scope and nature of open access, and referring to the Free Access to Law Movement. The social imperatives for free access were outlined. Various sectors providing free access and their funding models were discussed. Requirements for freely accessible legal information were enumerated including existing standards. The definition of added value and the role of commercial publishers was discussed. The Presentation ended with questions for the audience. This paper is an outline with notes on legal publishing and extensive reference to websites and further reading. Paper by Jules Winterton (President, International Association of Law Libraries and Associate Director and Librarian, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London) presented on Thursday, 12 August 2010, 13:45 – 15:45 at IFLA 2010