Summary: The commoditization of practical and scholarly knowledge in the 1980s and 1990s had the paradoxical effect of simultaneously widening access to such knowledge as new technologies of distribution became available, and narrowing access as the prices of journals and books increased and as fees were imposed for on-line access.

It is now feasible to make almost all new publications of practical and scholarly knowledge, and the vast majority of old ones, available over the Internet, without charge and without restriction, as a public utility. Almost everyone would benefit, both culturally and economically, if this were done; the exceptions are publishers of scholarly journals and a few other hoarders of “intellectual property.”

Indeed, in some scholarly disciplines, a good start on this project has already been made, and there is every reason to suppose that, as scholars in other disciplines become aware of its advantages, open access to scholarship will quickly become commonplace over the next few years.