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Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition An initiative of the Association of Research Libraries

SPARC Public AccessSPARC Public AccessAdvocacy Activities in theAdvocacy Activities in theUnited StatesUnited States

Heather JosephExecutive Director,Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition21 Dupont Circle, Washington DC USA 20036

eIFL General Assembly 2005 • October 28th, 2005 •Vilnius, Lithuania

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About SPARC

Coalition of libraries (300+ in Europe andNorth America) working to address inequitiesin scholarly publishing system.

Pragmatic agenda -- mission is to: expand dissemination of research Leverage networked digital environment to

serve scholarship. reduce financial pressures on libraries.

Strategy: Education, Incubation and Advocacy

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“…it’s clear the current model is breaking up.” – Outsell (Feb. 2004)

Market forces driving change

1. Technology has changed everything!2. Research library funding constraints

continue to grow3. Market power of STM giants - mergers,

acquisitions change complexion ofmarketplace

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SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Impetus for change

Market ForcesGrassroots Efforts

Societal BenefitsDevelop Public Policy

Whyopen

access?

Howopen

access?

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Scientific imperative

A Foundation for DiscoveryIf sharing of knowledge is the foundation ofscholarly advancement, then faster and widersharing will fuel its progress.

GOALS OF OPEN ACCESSGOALS OF OPEN ACCESS

ImproveInformation

Access & Sharing

AccelerateDiscovery

Stimulate FurtherDiscovery

ReduceSystemic Cost &

Inefficiency

Enable NewResearchStrategies

(e.g., data mining)

TranslateKnowledge intoPublic Benefits

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Advocacy Program - Education

Raise key policymakers’ awareness of OpenAccess

Build understanding of why Open Access isimportant to them

Retain professional lobbying firm to createcoordinated, sustained effort

Goal is to engage policymakers enough to spurthem to take action

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Advocacy Program - Outreach

Regular Communications/Outreach to membersof scholarly community on Open Access policyissues SPARC Open Access News (monthly)

Open Access News Blog (daily)

SPARC e-News (bi-monthly)

Website updates (daily)

Full roster of listserves (as often as needed!)

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Advocacy Program - Outreach

Media Outreach - establish and continually build activenetwork of reporters interested in Open Access Provide background info and education on Open Access

issues

Established SPARC (and its coalition members) asreliable source of expertise and commentary on OpenAccess issues

Stories regularly placed in academic press (Science,Nature, Chronicle of Higher Education and also innational media - Wall Street Journal, New YorkTimes, Washington Post

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Advocacy Program - Coalitions

Develop internal “networks” of libraries poised to takespecific, issue-oriented action i.e., letter-writing campaigns on proposed legislation

Establish larger, external coalition of libraryorganizations similarly poised to act OAWG (ALA, ARL, MLA, SLA, etc.)

Create and deploy wider coalitions targeting specificissues - expand coalitions beyond academic community Alliance for Taxpayer Access

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The Message - four principles

American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internetto the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by theU.S. Government.

Widespread access to the information contained in these articlesis an essential, inseparable component of our nation’sinvestment in science.

This and other scientific information should be shared in cost-effective ways that take advantage of the Internet, stimulatefurther discovery and innovation, and advance the translation ofthis knowledge into public benefits.

Enhanced access to and expanded sharing of information willlead to usage by millions of scientists, professionals, andindividuals, and will deliver an accelerated return on thetaxpayers' investment.

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“Taxpayer Access”

Credit Suisse First Boston:“[W]e would expect governments (and taxpayers) to

examine the fact that they are essentially funding thesame purchase three times: governments and taxpayersfund most academic research, pay the salaries of theacademics who undertake the peer review process andfund the libraries that buy the output, without receivinga penny in exchange from the publishers for producingand reviewing the content....

“We do not see this as sustainable in the long term, givenpressure on university and government budgets.”

–Sector Review: Scientific, Technical and MedicalPublishing,

April 6, 2004

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“Taxpayer access”

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Direct Work with Federal Agencies

Regular education efforts in both U.S. House ofRepresentatives and U.S. Senate

Ongoing conversations key to buildingunderstanding of Open Access issues

Opening conversations/education efforts in variousfederal agencies (Dept. of Energy, Department ofAgriculture, National Science Foundation)

Contact with Administrative/Policy oversight agency(Office of Management and Budget (OMB))

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Emerging policies

NIH Public Access Policy ( FY05)Appropriations Committee Report Language -June, 2004 “The (U.S. House of Representatives

Appropriation’s) Committee is concerned that thereis insufficient public access to reports and dataresulting from NIH-funded research.”

“….contrary to the best interests of the U.S.taxpayers who paid for this research.”

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Emerging policies

NIH Public Access Policy calls for:• The final policy requests that NIH-funded

investigators submit electronically to the NIH thefinal, peer-reviewed author's copy of their scientificmanuscripts as soon as possible,and within 12months of final publication.

• Policy makes it clear that it is up to the author todecide to comply, and also to choose the time ofdeposit.

• Copy will then be made publicly available in theNIH National Library of Medicine’s (NLM)PubMed Central (PMC)http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

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Common themes in policies

Right of public to have access to results oftaxpayer funded research

Create useful, long-term archive of federallyfunded material

Accelerate pace of research; stimulatediscovery and innovation

Leverage the return on taxpayer investment

Promote the advancement of science

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Further information

For more information on progress of these (andother) emerging Open Access policies in theU.S., please see:

www.arl.org/sparc/soan

www.taxpayeraccess.org

www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html

www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/