Access Denied: Defending Research in a Shrinking Scholarly Landscape
Location
Online
Start Date
21-10-2025 11:15 AM
End Date
21-10-2025 11:35 AM
Description
In early 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced a reduction in the indexing of key journals in the ERIC database. As government censorship increasingly threatens the accessibility of educational research, librarians are emerging as critical defenders of open access and research transparency. This presentation reports on the proactive efforts of a Canadian academic librarian who developed actionable workarounds to address the disappearance of articles from ERIC. These missing records pose a significant challenge to researchers conducting knowledge syntheses, who face a reporting and reproducibility crisis when search results fluctuate or shrink without explanation. The implications are profound: systematic reviews may be compromised, and the scholarly record distorted.
To mitigate this loss, this presentation will highlight methods to preserve the scholarly record, even when external forces alter or restrict access to previously available research. The session will also explore cross-disciplinary partnerships and initiatives that librarians can adapt to strengthen their advocacy and technical responses.
Finally, the presentation will critically examine the ongoing corporatization of information once considered freely accessible. As proprietary interests increasingly shape the availability of research data, librarians must confront a growing unknown: how to safeguard open knowledge in an era of privatized access. This session invites researchers, librarians, and concerned citizens to collaborate on defending the foundations of scholarly inquiry.
Access Denied: Defending Research in a Shrinking Scholarly Landscape
Online
In early 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced a reduction in the indexing of key journals in the ERIC database. As government censorship increasingly threatens the accessibility of educational research, librarians are emerging as critical defenders of open access and research transparency. This presentation reports on the proactive efforts of a Canadian academic librarian who developed actionable workarounds to address the disappearance of articles from ERIC. These missing records pose a significant challenge to researchers conducting knowledge syntheses, who face a reporting and reproducibility crisis when search results fluctuate or shrink without explanation. The implications are profound: systematic reviews may be compromised, and the scholarly record distorted.
To mitigate this loss, this presentation will highlight methods to preserve the scholarly record, even when external forces alter or restrict access to previously available research. The session will also explore cross-disciplinary partnerships and initiatives that librarians can adapt to strengthen their advocacy and technical responses.
Finally, the presentation will critically examine the ongoing corporatization of information once considered freely accessible. As proprietary interests increasingly shape the availability of research data, librarians must confront a growing unknown: how to safeguard open knowledge in an era of privatized access. This session invites researchers, librarians, and concerned citizens to collaborate on defending the foundations of scholarly inquiry.
