Public Access Policies

On June 11, 2013, five major library associations—ARL, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Medical Library Association (MLA), Special Libraries Association (SLA)—sent this letter to the US Senate Committee on Rules & Administration, supporting President Obama's nomination of Davita Vance-Cooks for Public Printer of the United States. The Public Printer oversees the US Government Printing Office (GPO).

 ltr-lib-assns-support-d-vance-cooks-nom-public-printer-11june2013.pdf

Davita Vance-Cooks, photo courtesy GPOOn June 11, ARL joined the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Medical Library Association (MLA), and Special Libraries Association (SLA) in a letter (PDF) to the US Senate Committee on Rules & Administration supporting President Obama's nomination of Acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks for Public Printer of the United States. The Public Printer oversees the US Government Printing Office (GPO). If confirmed, Vance-Cooks would be the first woman and first African American to head the GPO.

The Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and ARL have drafted a proposal in response to the OSTP memo: The SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE).

 share-proposal-07june13.pdf

The proposal begins:

Research universities are long-lived and are mission-driven to generate, make accessible, and preserve over time new knowledge and understanding. Research universities collectively have the assets needed for a national solution for enhanced public access to federally funded research output. As the principal producers of the resources that are to be made publicly available under the new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)[1] memorandum, and that are critical to the continuing success of higher education in the United States, universities have invested in the infrastructure, tools, and services necessary to provide effective and efficient access to their research and scholarship. The new White House directive provides a compelling reason to integrate higher education’s investments to date into a system of cross-institutional digital repositories that will be known as SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE)...

Comments and questions about the draft SHARE proposal (PDF) are welcome—please send e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

image © Niklas WikströmARL, the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) have drafted a proposal, “SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE)” (PDF), in response to the recent White House directive on public access to federally funded research and data.

image © Tom LohdanThis week, the National Research Council (NRC) is hosting four days of discussion on the recent White House memo, “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research” (PDF). NRC is conducting these sessions to garner input from a wide variety of perspectives on behalf of many federal agencies. ARL, the Association of American Universities (AAU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) presented joint statements on “Expanded Public Access to Data” (PDF) and “Expanded Public Access to Publications” (PDF).

The Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Association of Research Libraries presented a joint statement on expanded public access to data to the National Research Council at the National Academy of Science Forum on May 16, 2013.

 univ-lib-statement-public-access-data-16may13.pdf

The Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Association of Research Libraries presented a joint statement on expanded public access to publications to the National Research Council at the National Academy of Science Forum on May 14, 2013.

 univ-lib-statement-public-access-publications-14may13.pdf

On February 22, 2013, John P. Holdren, Director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, issued a memorandum directing federal research funding agencies with R&D budgets of $100 million or more to develop a plan within six months to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the federal Government.

image © Tom LohdanToday the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and Association of Research Libraries (ARL) released a two-page statement by David E. Shulenburger calling on the research university community to provide input to the US Government for increasing access to the results of federally funded research.

image © Tom Lohdan Today, the Obama administration issued a historic Policy Memorandum that opens up access to the results of publicly funded research. ARL applauds the Obama administration for this critically important action. The memorandum calls upon federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with free and unlimited online access to the results of that research.

Letter in support of the comments filed by Public.resources.org concerning "Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities."

ltsunsteinibr-30apr12.pdf

Letter from library associations thanking Paul Broun for conducting a hearing on Public Access and Scholarly Publication Interests.

frpaa-broun-29mar2012.pdf

Library association letter expressing opposition to H.R. 3699, The Research Works Act.

lt-researchworksact-24jan12.pdf

Letter from higher education and library associations thanking Representative Doyle for introducing H.R. 4004, "The Federal Research Public Access Act."

oawg-house-frpaa-14feb2012.pdf

Letter from higher education and library associations thanking Senator Cornyn for introducing S. 2096, "'The Federal Research Public Access Act."

oawg-senate-frpaa-14feb2012.pdf

Letter opposing the Research Works Act.

lt-researchworksact-24feb12.pdf

Letter from Government Printing Office responding to concerns about the FDLP's future.

fdlp_shermanemail_23jan12.pdf

Letter from library directors to Government Printing Office representative regarding a multi-state regional depository proposal advanced by the University of Michigan and University of Minnesota Libraries, and the GPO's position on comprehensive collecting by regional depository libraries.

fdlp_umdumnufl_response_20jan12.pdf

Letter from Senator Benjamin Cardin and enclosed letter from Goverment Printing Office (GPO) in response to concerns abou the Federal Depository Library Program.

fdlp_cardin_sherman_ltrs_dec11.pdf

ACRL letter expressing concern about recent rulings that have rejected new multi-state partnerships within the Federal Depository Library Program.

ltfdlp_acrl02nov11.pdf

Committee on Institutional Cooperation letter expressing need for multi-state partnerships within the Federal Depository Library Program.

ltfdlp_cicsupport20oct11.pdf

Letters from coordinators of regional depository libraries expressing concern over GPO's responses to two initiatives within the FDLP system.

FDLP-letter-to-gpo-19oct11.pdf

fdlp-arlstatement-12oct11.pdf

Letter from Nancy R. Robertson, State Librarian of Michigan, concerning the multi-state arrangement proposed by the University of Minnesota libraries (UMN) and the library of Michigan/Michigan Department of Education (lM) on behalf of the selective depository libraries of Michigan, and specifically discussing a timeline for the process.

ltfdlp_michresponse30june11.pdf

Letter from Nancy R. Robertson, State Librarian of Michigan, concerning the multi-state arrangement proposed by the University of Minnesota libraries (UMN) and the library of Michigan/Michigan Department of Education (lM) on behalf of the selective depository libraries of Michigan.

ltfdlp_michresponse28sept11.pdf

Letter from Wendy Pradt Lougee.

ltfdlp_umnresponse28sept11.pdf

Letter from GPO describing concerns with ASERL implementation plan and disposition tool.

ltgpo_aserl_23sept11.pdf

Letter from GPO regarding the proposal for the University of Minnesota to serve as the regional depository library for Michigan. The GPO concluded "that this particular proposal is not necessary for the economical or practical implementation of the FDLP for the reasons articulated" in the letter.

ltgpo_michfdlp_15sept11.pdf

Letter from seven regional depository libraries serving states or territories other than those in which they are located, expressing concern about the future of multi-state agreements.

ltfdlp_umdresponse29aug11.pdf

Letter from GPO regarding relinquishing Regional Designation.

ltgpo_michstatelib10june11.pdf