Libraries and scholarly communication

This chapter provides an overview of academic libraries’ growing involvement in the system of scholarly communication. Although libraries have always been consumers of scholarly publications, in the past few decades, they have become more actively involved in the production of scholarly materials. The 1979 Report of the National Enquiry on scholarly communication is used as a starting point from which to examine the recent evolution of library services such as institutional repositories and scholarly publishing programs. The necessity of applying an appropriate ethical framework to these services is discussed