Repository managers everywhere may be reassured by statements of
consumer support for public access to research findings, as framed in the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (FRPAA). Of more significance, especially to IR managers in the US, is the
Open Letter from the provosts of 25 top US universities in support of the FRPAA. (
Update, 5 October 2006:
125 university leaders endorse FRPAA, 10 opposed.)
To get a sense of the impact of this letter, Dorothea Salo is a regular blogger on repository matters and a (
correction October 3, 2006) Digital Repository Services Librarian at George Mason University, so has a
US perspective on the provosts' letter: "That’s huge, stunningly huge; we’ve had libraries and the occasional faculty senate make their voices heard in the past, but this is Big Admin and it just cannot be ignored. (It contains a lot of the usual suspects, actually: California, Dartmouth, Purdue. But where are MIT and Cornell, I wonder?) ... When there’s leadership, others may follow."
As usual, Peter Suber is spot on with his
assessment of the national policy impact: "It shows that research institutions favor OA and that journal-publishing learned societies that oppose it are speaking more for their publishing arms than for their members. It exerts pressure on the Association of American Universities (AAU) to endorse OA and FRPAA or be left behind by its own members. (The AAU is a major voice in Washington on policies affecting research and education.) And finally, of course, it's decisive new support for FRPAA that is bound to be persuasive to members of Congress representing districts where these 25 universities are located."
Thankfully the provosts' letter does not focus on the usual 'serials crisis' motivations nor about finding an accommodation with publishers, but emphasises some of the real and often ignored benefits of open access: “Widespread public dissemination levels the economic playing field for researchers outside of well-funded universities and research centers and creates more opportunities for innovation. Ease of access and discovery also encourages use by scholars outside traditional disciplinary communities, thus encouraging imaginative and productive scholarly convergence,” say the provosts.
It's not just about the FRPAA, however. The next step for the provosts is to initiate institutional repositories, for those that haven't done so already, and then
mandate that they are filled, to ensure the mission of the FRPAA is fulfilled.
For more comment on the provosts' letter, see Jaschik, Scott,
Rallying Behind Open Access,
Inside Higher Ed, July 28, 2006
