---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 06 May 2010 10:07:11 -0400
From: james.ryley -- freepatentsonline.com
"But is it churlish of me to muse that if only university presidents and
provosts were as quick to adopt an OA mandate for their own home institution
as they are to sign open letters in support of their government's adopting
such an OA mandate, progress toward OA would be all the fleeter!"
Very well put. Note that the US is not the only place with this problem.
The Berlin Declaration, which has guidelines superior to our own fledgling
OA efforts (IMHO), has hundreds of signatory institutions -- indicating
widespread lip service to the goals of OA -- most of which do not provide
much in a truly open fashion... It's a sad state of affairs.
Sincerely,
James Ryley
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ATA-MEMBERS [mailto:ATA-MEMBERS_at_arl.org] On Behalf Of Stevan
> Harnad
> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 11:16 AM
> To: ATA-MEMBERS_at_mail.sumobrain.com
> Subject: Re: [ATA-MEMBERS] Major research institution leaders support
> legislation to ensure public access to publicly funded research
>
> PREACHING AND PRACTISE
>
> It is both extremely timely and extremely welcome and helpful that
> university presidents and provosts are supporting both the FRPAA and
> President Obama's OSTP initiative for mandating Open Access (OA).
>
> This is a historic concerted effort on the part of all sectors that are
dedicated
> to maximizing the progress and benefits of scientific and scholarly
research
> for the entire planet.
>
> But is it churlish of me to muse that if only university presidents and
> provosts were as quick to adopt an OA mandate for their own home
> institution as they are to sign open letters in support of their
government's
> adopting such an OA mandate, progress toward OA would be all the fleeter!
>
> [Only 2.5 of the 26 [sic] signatory institutions have mandates of their
own:
> Harvard, MIT, and Stanford Ed. Harvard's provost Steve Hyman, the host of
> this letter of support --
> http://www.provost.harvard.edu/reports/FRPAA_Open_Letter.pdf -- is of
> course one (indeed the first) of the 2.5. But what about the other
23.5...?]
>
> See also: "Putting Principled Support Into Practice: What Provosts Need to
> Mandate" (2006!)
> http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/117-guid.html
>
> Stevan Harnad
>
>
> On 2010-05-03, at 11:27 AM, Jennifer McLennan wrote:
>
>> ALLIANCE FOR TAXPAYER ACCESS
>> http://www.taxpayeraccess.org
>>
>> Media Advisory
>> May 3, 2010
>>
>> For more information, contact:
>> Jennifer McLennan
>> jennifer [at] arl [dot] org
>> (202) 296-2296 ext. 121
>>
>> MAJOR RESEARCH INSTITUTION LEADERS SUPPORT LEGISLATION TO
> ENSURE PUBLIC ACCESS TO PUBLICLY FUNDED RESEARCH
>>
>> Washington, DC - The provosts and presidents of 27 major private and
> public research institutions have voiced their support for the Federal
> Research Public Access Act in an "Open Letter to the Higher Education
> Community," released Friday by the Harvard University Provost. The Act,
> first introduced in the Senate last year, was introduced in the House of
> Representatives on April 15. The letter signals expanded support for
public
> access to publicly funded research among the largest research institutions
in
> the U.S.
>>
>> The letter reads, in part:
>>
>> "As scholars and university administrators, we are acutely aware that
the
> present system of scholarly communication does not always serve the best
> interests of our institutions or the general public. Scholarly publishers,
> academic libraries, university leaders, and scholars themselves must
engage
> in an ongoing dialogue about the means of scholarly production and
> distribution. This dialogue must acknowledge both our competing interests
> and our common goals. The passage of FRPAA will be an important step in
> catalyzing that dialogue, but it is not the last one that we will need to
take.
>>
>> "FRPAA is good for education and good for research. It is good for the
> American public, and it promotes broad, democratic access to knowledge.
> While it challenges the academy and scholarly publishers to think and act
> creatively, it need not threaten nor undermine a successful balance of our
> interests. If passed, we will work with researchers, publishers, and
federal
> agencies to ensure its successful implementation. We endorse FRPAA's
> aims and urge the academic community, individually and collectively, to
> voice support for its passage."
>>
>> "The fact that such an august group of leaders has used the words
'mission
> critical' gets to the heart of how important this legislation is to higher
> education," added Alliance spokesperson and SPARC executive director
> Heather Joseph. "We're pleased to see the breadth of support for this bill
> continue to grow at a steady pace."
>> "The Open Letter to the Higher Education Community" is available at
> http://osc.hul.harvard.edu/docs/FRPAA-open-letter-2010.php.
>>
>> The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) was introduced April 15
in
> the House of Representatives (H.R.5037) by Rep. Doyle (R-PA) and a bi-
> partisan host of co-sponsors, and mirrors the Senate version (S.1373)
> introduced in June 2009 by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Cornyn (R-
> TX). The bill proposes to require those eleven federal agencies with
> extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to implement policies
> that deliver timely, free, online access to the published results of the
> research they fund. The Act would build upon the success of the first U.S.
> requirement for public access to publicly funded research (through the
> National Institutes of Health) and would require that the results of
> taxpayer-funded research be made available no later than six months after
> publication in a journal.
>>
>> The House introduction of the Act follows closely on the heels of a
recent
> expression of interest in public access policies from the White House
Office
> of Science and Technology Policy, which issued a request for public
> comment on mechanisms that would leverage federal investments in
> scientific research and increase access to information that promises to
> stimulate scientific and technological innovation and competitiveness.
>>
>> For more information about the Federal Research Public Access Act and
> the broad array of communities that support its passage, visit
> http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa.
>>
>> ###
>>
>> The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of advocacy, academic,
> research, and publishing organizations that supports open public access to
> the results of federally funded research. The Alliance was formed in 2004
to
> urge that peer-reviewed articles stemming from taxpayer-funded research
> become fully accessible and available online at no extra cost to the
> American public. Details on the ATA may be found at
> http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.
>>
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>> Jennifer McLennan
>> Director of Programs & Operations
>> SPARC
>> jennifer_at_arl.org
>> (202) 296-2296 x121
>> Fax: (202) 872-0884
>> *******************************
>> SPARC 2010 Digital Repositories Meeting
>> November 8 & 9 - Baltimore, MD
>> http://www.arl.org/sparc/media/09-0223.shtml
>> *******************************
>> Open Access Week 2010
>> October 18 - 24. Everywhere.
>> http://www.openaccessweek.org
>> *******************************
>> http://www.arl.org/sparc
>
Received on Thu May 06 2010 - 21:17:43 BST