Libraries and the Open Access movement: role, relationships, and mutual influences

Abstract

This study aims to shed light on the free access to information system as a competitive and alternative system to the traditional system based on linking access to information to physical and legal restrictions, and to clarify the nature of the relationship between libraries and the free access to information system. Thus, this study is divided into two main parts, the first of which examines the concept of free access to information through the currently prevailing literature and addresses the definition of its most important initiatives, tools (strategies), positives, negatives, and obstacles. The second section explains the nature of the relationship between the open access system and libraries in terms of: the role of libraries in the open access system, the impact of the open access system on library services and their economies, and the impact of libraries on the open access system in terms of supporting it absolutely or standing halfway between it and the system. Traditional.