DL.org Blog

Heather Joseph

Very timely workshop on a topic that is central to the advancing collective mission not only of the library community, but of the academy as a whole, and society at large. Role as a representative of the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) is to focus on the importance of consistently using Open Access as a compass point that underpins our efforts in the Digital Library and Institutional Repository space, so that initiatives led by the community can achieve the global impact they are intended to deliver. SPARC’s mission is to act as a catalyst for action in creating a more open and equitable system of scholarly communication, expand dissemination of research and scholarship in a way that leverages digital networked technology and ultimately reduces the financial pressure on libraries. The approach to Open Access is holistic:

• Infrastructure
• Journals
• Digital Repositories
• Legal Framework
• Copyright/licensing
• Author education
• Policy Framework
• Local/national/international
• Coalition Building

In particular, SPARC actively works to support emerging “meta policies” that help ensure that full OA becomes a requirement in the research arena, and enable true interoperability to be achieved.

Policy focus

• Dissemination of results is an essential component of research and the Public’s investment in science.
• Funders obtain value from their investment only when results are used.
• Governments would boost innovation and get a better return on their investment in publicly funded research by making research findings more widely available, and by doing so,  they would maximize social returns on public investments.

Emerging trends in the U.S.

U.S. NIH Public Access Policy; – U.S. Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008; Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grants (TAA – CCCT). We are in the midst of some clear trends on which the community can capitalise, helping to achieve, from a larger policy level, the kind of interoperability promised by Open Access. A very clear message is being sent from the top that Open is the default.

Call to action

• Set the Default to “Open”
• Recognition that maximising access & utility maximises benefits
• Recognition that exceptions will be the rule – “Shades of Open”
• Community driven approach to  development/implementation
• National discussions include data, Open Educational Reseouces (OERs), other materials – not just articles

• Explicitly recognize need for partnerships (public/private and beyond)
• Culture change needed – incentivize sharing Intellectual property rights must be respected
• “Good Practices” that will evolve into “Best Practices”
• “Will to act” increasing as results from active policies become available

The talk is available on the dedicated web page.

Tags: Open Access, policy, scholarly communication, SPARC, U.S.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Event Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.