The Open Movement: What Libraries Can Do

Open approaches have moved beyond open access, open source software, and open courseware to developments with open infrastructure and open processes. Open initiatives are gaining momentum as a result of both bottom‐up grassroots activism and top‐down policy agenda. In a few instances, they have already reached a tipping point; but in many cases they are being pursued separately by specialist groups, suffering from fragmentation, and not always having their expected outcomes or impacts. Our study of open initiatives uses a simple overarching definition of open resources, and introduces a convenient framework enabling shared understanding of three different types of openness—open content, open process, and open infrastructure—illustrated by a dozen examples of open domains relevant to libraries and information services. We explain the common attributes, existing synergies, mutual benefits, and natural limits of open approaches that need to be taken into account when developing and implementing policies and strategies to advance openness in organizations. We argue that librarians and other information specialists can make important contributions in promoting a holistic open culture in education, workplaces, communities, and society; and we identify a continuum of nine potential roles as recommended operational, tactical, and strategic interventions for information professionals, individually and collectively. Practitioners can use the models and tools presented to gain a fuller understanding of the concept of openness and its implications for libraries and their parent institutions; and, more significantly, to review, evaluate, and determine their own current and future roles as advocates, collaborators, and leaders of the open movement