Ithaka S+R’s 2025 survey of US library deans and directors found that support for open access activities has declined in recent years. The share of library leaders who rated having a clear plan to transition spending from subscription to open investments as highly important, for example, declined from 45 percent in 2022 to 23 percent in 2025. Library leaders were also less likely to believe that open access will reduce what their institutions pay for scholarly communication, instead indicating that open access will have no impact on their costs. These shifts are occurring within an academic library environment characterized by increasing financial strain, thereby requiring leaders to make difficult decisions around scholarly investments.

How can this decline in support for open access be understood within the broader scholarly communication ecosystem, and what do these shifts mean for the future of open access activities?

This panel at the 2026 Charleston Conference brings together leaders representing a range of library and scholarly communication perspectives to explore possible factors contributing to the declining prioritization of open access activities, while considering what these trends mean for libraries, publishers, and other scholarly communication stakeholders. Through guided discussion, panelists Tracy Bergstrom, Shannon Pritting, Matthew Goddard, and Ben Rawlins will identify areas of convergence and divergence in their needs and perceptions around open access, including how different stakeholders assess value and respond to immediate budgetary pressures.

Join the session on Thursday, November 5 at 2:50-3:30pm.