Open Access to Health Information: A Social Justice Issue

Abstract

Open access(OA) publishing has steadily gained traction as an alternative to traditional publishing models since its introduction in the early 2000s. Social justice, including equitable access to information and bridging the digital divide, are also concepts familiar to many librarians. As a result, these ideas create a natural intersection for advocacy as health information professionals. In this workshop, we will briefly review the literature on OA and social justice to provide background on the topic, and discuss survey results on undergraduate student opinions regarding open access as a social justice concern. Following this overview, participants will break into groups, and each group will be given a topic with questions to spark discussion on the subject. Questions such as "Historically, how has access to health information created benefits or barriers to users?" or "When thinking about medical research, what stakeholders are concerned about open access and why?" Each group will select a notetaker to keep track of the responses, and time will be given at the end of the workshop to report out and have a wider discussion with each other.