This special issue of ARL: A Bimonthly Report contains the remarks that William G. Bowen delivered to the research library community in October 2005 at the 147th Membership Meeting of ARL. For the past 17 years Dr. Bowen has served as President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In these remarks he reflects on lessons learned from JSTOR and other Mellon-supported initiatives for the future of scholarly communication and the role of the library in a digital landscape. Specifically, he addresses:
Dr. Bowen concludes his paper by encouraging the research library community to “re-think the possibility for stronger collaborative actions—seeking ways to work together effectively, respecting legal concerns but not being terrified by overly conservative interpretations of what degree of collective action is permitted.”
ARL is publishing Dr. Bowen’s remarks to encourage discussion of his ideas among all who, like ARL, advocate for the development of effective, extensible, sustainable, and economically viable models of scholarly communication that provide barrier-free access to quality information in support of teaching, learning, research, and service to the community.