AOL is working hard to figure out the advertising business, but in the meantime it's betting that small publishers might be better suited to sell ads on their own sites. According to a story at SmartMoney, AOL has launched a new ad management system that lets small publisher handle their own inventory. 

Dubbed PubAccess, the new tool is a product of AOL's Advertising.com business group. It is also the first major effort by the company since Lynda Clarizio replaced Curt Viebranz as the head of Platform-A, the umbrella name for AOL's amalgam of advertising companies.

The new tool matches Advertising.com's army of advertisers with a growing network of small publishers. 

The decision to embrace a self service ad model comes after a decision by Facebook and MySpace to let advertisers bypass their respective sales teams. Since its acquisition of Bebo, AOL has been locked in a growing fight with the likes of Facebook. Most recently, Facebook upped the ante in that battle by launching its own instant message platform in a move that drives straight to the heart of one of AOL's most successful products.