This document discusses advancing open access to scholarly information. It defines open access as research articles being freely available online with full rights to use in the digital environment. The benefits of open access are discussed, such as minimizing costs and avoiding duplication of research. Challenges to open access include the divide between rich and poor institutions in accessing information. Several solutions to advance open access are proposed, including open scholarly repositories, journals, monographs, and educational resources. Libraries and organizations like ASSAf and SPARC Africa are important stakeholders in collaborating to implement open access policies and build capacity.
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