A brief explanation:
In this exhibition, you see 20 articles that are surrounded by references. The 20 articles that are framed like a painting are the Cape Breton University (CBU) professors’ publications. The article with the price tag is from bibliography/references/works cited. For example, “Peering into the literature: A systematic review of the roles of people who inject drugs in harm reduction initiatives” by Dr. Margaret Dechman, Associate Professor in Anthropology & Sociology, School of Arts and Social Sciences, lists 183 citations in her references. The cost of the 183 articles would be more than USD $3,551.39 without a subscription of the Library. To publish one article, researchers use more than the articles listed on its references and cannot just write articles based on others’ publications. Accordingly, the cost of research will be far more expensive. The cost you see here is a simple calculation of articles that were actually cited. But they are still expensive!
I also want to acknolwedge that I was inspired by an OA display that Mita Williams created at the Leddy Library, University of Windsor, in 2013.