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The purpose of this paper is to open the special issue of Online Information Review on open knowledge management in higher education. Its aim is to review the concept and extension of the movement or philosophy of open knowledge in universities and higher education institutions.

The approach follows the reference model used by the University of Salamanca (Spain) to promote open knowledge in the institution through its Open Knowledge Office. This model comprises four areas: free software, open educational content and cultural dissemination, open science, and open innovation.

For each of the four areas mentioned above, milestones and the most significant projects are presented, showing how they are promoting publication and information transmission in an open environment, without restrictions and favouring knowledge dissemination in all fields.

Open knowledge is an approach which, although somewhat controversial, is growing relentlessly as cultural and scientific dissemination leave behind other interests or economic models. International organisations and governments are gradually embracing open knowledge as the way to share scientific advances with society and as an international cooperative way to assist development in third‐world countries.

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).

Open access publishing is an increasingly popular trend in the dissemination of academic work, allowing journals to print articles electronically and without the burden of subscription paywalls, enabling much wider access for audiences. Yet subscription-based journals remain the most dominant in the social sciences and humanities, and it is often a struggle for newer open access publications to compete, in terms of economic, cultural, and symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 2004). Our study explores the meanings of resistance held by the editors of open access journals in the social sciences and humanities in Canada, as well as the views of university librarians. To make sense of these meanings, we draw on Lonnie Athens’ (2015) radical interactionist account of power, and expand on this by incorporating George Herbert Mead’s (1932, 1938) theory of emergence, arguing that open access is characteristic of an “extended rationality” (Chang, 2004) for those involved. Drawing on our open-ended interview data, we find that open access is experienced as a form of resistance in at least four ways. These include resistance to (1) profit motives in academic publishing; (2) access barriers for audiences; (3) access barriers for contributors; and (4) traditional publishing conventions.

Information and communication technologies have became pervasive in people's lives and in this changing world education cannot remain anchored in old‐fashioned models which ignore the evolution through which society is going. This paper seeks to present the gamble made by the University of Alicante (Spain) on the promotion of open knowledge.

The educational environment cannot continue to be fixed, closed and isolated, where students – assuming a basically passive role – receive standardised teaching. It must consequently experience a fast and decisive transformation which allows it, amongst other things, to respond to the new challenge posed by society: the need for all of us to share the knowledge we generate, so that further progress can be made.

The Institutional Repository (RUA) and the OpenCourseWare of the University of Alicante (OCW‐UA) were conceived from the very beginning as related projects that could constitute consecutive phases in the open publication of knowledge. In this way the aim of presenting the promotion of open knowledge not as a series of discrete projects but as a global strategic gamble of the institution was achieved. In addition to the most visible educational benefits, this policy has had the virtue of favouring the assumption by the University of its role as an online provider of quality (scientific and teaching) content.

RUA is the storage place of all the teaching materials published by the University of Alicante's teaching staff, which are retrieved from OCW‐UA, while OCW‐UA serves as an organisational model of teaching content self‐archived by the teaching staff in RUA. The connection between the projects has allowed the presentation of the promotion of open knowledge as a global strategic gamble of the University, which has contributed to a greater acceptance by the teaching staff. This work is original in that it shows a successful experience of involvement by one university and its members in the promotion of open knowledge.

This chapter outlines some theoretical, historical and analytical themes covering national, trans-national and international trends in open education. It starts by looking at the social, economic and political drivers for education systems in general, and how openness has been used to widen access through attacking the iron triangle of education: access, quality and cost (open as a door). It then looks at the more recent technological and ideological developments that have aided openness (open as a book); including the central role that open licensing of digital materials (open as a right) has played in changing the social and economic drivers of education and in particular open educational resources. Next, it looks at the importance of open innovation, social innovation and communities of practice for open education (open as a relationship) and includes a comparison between the development of open source software and the development of open educational resources. It goes on to consider the impacts of all these on national and international policy (open as a border) before reviewing the social and economic role of open education from the perspectives of lifelong learners, students, educational institutions and educational publishers (open for business in the future). The chapter concludes by forecasting possible trends in open education for the next 15 years.

This study was aimed to examine emerging knowledge commons in the public libraries in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District in Free State, South Africa.

A triangulated sample survey was adopted to collect data from the users of the commons using a questionnaire, and data of community member and the library officers were collected using an interview schedule. The study was guided by Hess and Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development framework.

The librarians and the commons users recognise the changing nature, roles and services of the libraries without necessarily attributing the changes to the emergence of knowledge commons. Users viewed the commons by the learning opportunities offered by information and communication technologies. They were, however, willing to contribute their resources to boost and enrich the commons; their contributions presently take the forms of volunteering of their knowledge and skill through offering of training sessions to users of the commons. A critical aspect of the commons, namely, participation in the governance and management of the commons resources appears not to be occurring.

To adequately build knowledge commons in the libraries will require formally introducing knowledge commons in the libraries, doing a systems analysis, deciding on the content and their sources, drawing up a programme for nurturing the system including training of relevant staff and then providing basic infrastructures.

This study used quantitative approach to deploy the institutional analysis development Institutional Analysis and Development framework in the study of public library institution. Studies on knowledge commons in public libraries have not been found.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of national libraries in developing national open access infrastructure and policy on the basis of the experiences of the National Library (NL) of Sweden.

The paper is descriptive based on the knowledge of a key player in the development of open access in Sweden. The priorities and outcome of the programme are described.

The paper reveals that the NL Sweden since around 1990 has combined the mission of a “traditional” national library with that of a national, research library authority. It has coordinated its support for development of repositories and open access in the OpenAccess.se programme that ran from 2006 to 2009. The conclusion is that a national library can successfully act as a catalyst for closer cooperation between the main bodies of research and research libraries in advancing an Open Access agenda and developing a digital research information infrastructure. This is because it is usually placed directly under the government and thus closer to national policy making. It is often perceived as unbiased in relation to the different interests of the various parties involved. It is also able to advance development projects into sustainable services.

The role of national libraries in relation to open access has not been discussed widely. The experience of the NL Sweden in this respect has a general interest.

The environments of the library under open access (OA) are distinctively found as less expensive which ultimately reciprocates better services and technological support for the users as well. Focussing on the Librarians’ perspective, the purpose of the study is to highlight and establish a balance between the vision of OA initiatives and the support of Librarians in India. The principal and philosophy of the study are based upon the exploration of open source initiatives and their significance among the Library & Information Science community.

The study reflects the historical perspective of OA in India and around the world. The study further focusses on how the OA movement has taken a leap in adaptability by the librarians on the basis of acceptance model given. Considering the reviews of the librarians, the study reflects the librarians support OA initiatives in India. OA is a “provocation to thought”, it is a “social contract”.

Exploring beyond the researchers have come across that OA is a belief where knowledge evolves best when shared. Based on the acceptance the study given significant. It describes the librarian’s attitude while embracing the OA model with an increased acceptance towards OA, which supports in building Institutional Repositories and broadening the research horizons based on budgetary implications. The librarians and libraries adopt and work to build up a resilient model for OA to bring out awareness among the users.

The scope of the study is limited to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The focus of the study is purposely laid down on the three given states of India keeping in mind Delhi being a capital city of India, Uttar Pradesh being the largest state of India (area wise) and Haryana state, which opened up multiple educational opportunities for the students and researchers Rajiv Gandhi Educational city plans to host many educational institutions including medical and engineering institutions.

The study describes the librarian’s attitude while embracing the OA model with an increased acceptance towards the OA, which supports in building Institutional Repositories and broadening the research horizons based on budgetary implications. The librarians and libraries adopt and work to build up a resilient model for OA to bring out awareness among the users.

The present study brings out the need of different policies and mandates by Government of India for OA along with University Grants Commission, National Knowledge Commission and Research Organisation to promote the culture of OA. The study further recommends that LIS communities come together and build the learning culture to promote limitless sharing of information and knowledge for scholarly society.

This research work aims to make a difference in highlighting the librarians’ support on OA initiatives in India due to the role of librarians on transitional point. Dissemination and management of information using digital technology during pandemic have had a significant impact on divided environment. With this paradigm shift, the world struggles with the pandemic. The librarians try to keep themselves in pace by embracing the technology and LIS professionals do adopt the radical reventure the info technology.

The purpose of this paper is to present various aspects of open access that are being discussed and debated in recent years.

The paper briefly reviews the flavors such as open access definitions, open access initiatives, platforms for open access, and players in the open access movement.

The paper finds that, while the debates on open access continue, there is no doubt that librarians can play an important role to help achieve faster and wider dissemination of research discoveries and new knowledge of which they have been disseminators and keepers for centuries.

The article may help readers further their understanding of the complexity of open access and raise awareness on some of the key points.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of librarians in federal and state universities in Nigeria in facilitating access to open access resources.

Using a positivist research paradigm, descriptive survey research approach was employed in the study. Five research questions guided the study. The population of the study was 79 librarians. There was no sampling. A questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection, and the data were presented in figures and tables.

The major findings of the study were that librarians are aware of open access resources. They make the resources available/visible to users by linking them to the library website and promote the use of Google and Google Scholar searches. The librarians were of the view that free online resources are important for the research process. The major challenges they face in giving users access to these resources are lack of metrics and evidence to demonstrate the value of free content.

The study only assessed e-resources' librarians in the sampled universities at the time of this study. It may be necessary to assess the perception of users towards open access resources.

Adopting and implementing these opportunities to enhance users' access and use of the resources will improve service delivery without doubt. Though this study is not exhaustive, it has provided insight into the inherent opportunities of using open access resources.

For the library management and librarians, the creation of awareness on available open access resources and facilitating access to users through different strategies will not only increase access but also improve teaching, learning and research. It will also increase users' awareness on accessing other sources apart from through subscription.