Day/Time: May 5, 2025, 2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. EDT
Title: Beyond Diamond: Exploring Dialectical Materialist Open Access
Presenters:
- Dave Ghamandi (he/him), Open Publishing Librarian and Managing Editor, Aperio, University of Virginia
- Brianne Selman (she/her), Scholarly Communications and Copyright Librarian, University of Winnipeg
- Sam Popowich (he/him), Digital Infrastructure Librarian, University of Winnipeg
Description: In this panel presentation, we plan to analyze and demystify open access (OA), and by extension, scholarly communication and library publishing, through a dialectical materialist lens. Dialectical materialism, with its focus on viewing things as interconnected, in constant motion, developmentally, and as they actually exist, encourages us to place greater emphasis on people and processes rather than viewing things in isolation and as unchanging. It is an underutilized framework in the OA and library publishing space. We will begin with a brief explanation of dialectical materialism and three major concepts: (1) use value and exchange value contradiction; (2) commodity fetishism; and (3) the forces of production and relations of production contradiction.
We will then enter into a general discussion where we apply these concepts to OA and library publishing. One goal is to begin testing via conversation how far these concepts can be applied, especially as OA objects are intangible and inexhaustible. To aid in doing so, we’ve ordered these concepts logically and will move back and forth between the abstract concepts and concrete reality to understand each better. We will problematize existing ways of thinking about OA, library publishing, and our relations with each other. To what extent does library publishing reinforce or challenge commodity fetishism? Does OA mystify social dynamics in new ways that hurt workers? Using the three concepts as anchor points will also allow us to explore issues such as epistemic positioning and OA-as-a-gift.
The latter part of the discussion will focus more on library workers and will generate several novel implications for practice. We will do this building on labor discussions from previous Library Publishing Forums and by applying the concept of relations of production more explicitly. By synthesizing all of our concepts, we aim to equip the audience with new ways of understanding the conditions of and strategizing for librarian-publishers.