What is SPARC?

SPARC®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, SPARC has become a catalyst for change. Its pragmatic focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries. Action by SPARC in collaboration with stakeholders – including authors, publishers, and libraries – builds on the unprecedented opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship. Leading academic organizations have endorsed SPARC.

What Does SPARC Do?

SPARC’s role in stimulating change focuses on:

• **Educating stakeholders about the problems facing scholarly communication and the opportunities for change;
• Advocating policy changes that advance the potential of technology to advance scholarly communication and that explicitly recognize that dissemination is an essential, inseparable component of the research process; * Incubating real-world demonstrations of business and publishing models that advance changes benefiting scholarship and academe.

Since its launch in June 1998, the SPARC coalition, served by the SPARC staff and subject to the fiscal oversight and controls of ARL, has advanced this agenda by:

• demonstrating that new journals can successfully compete for authors and quickly establish quality;

• effectively driving down the cost of journals;

• creating an environment in which editors and editorial board members claim more prominent roles in the business aspects of their journals;

• stimulating the development of increased publishing capacity in the not-for-profit sector and encouraging new players to enter the market;

• providing help and guidance to scientists and librarians interested in creating change;

• carrying the methods and message of change to international stakeholders.

The current Program Plan contains current information about SPARC's direction. More indepth information and progress updates on change in scholarly communication is available from SPARC publications.

Who is a Member?

Today membership in SPARC numbers nearly 800 institutions in North America, Europe, Japan, China, and Australia. SPARC worked with the Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche (LIBER) and other European organizations to establish SPARC Europe in 2001. SPARC also is affiliated with major library organizations in Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, and North America.

SPARC finances its efforts through coalition member fees that support operating expenses and help build a capital fund to provide start-up money for its programs. SPARC also seeks grants to augment the capital fund. The key to SPARC's success, however, is the commitment of its approximately 200 coalition members to support SPARC initiatives and SPARC-endorsed journals. The members elect a small group of their own to assist SPARC in creating and governing its programs through the SPARC Steering Committee according to the SPARC governance policies.

Who Benefits?

SPARC stimulates creation of better, faster, and more economically sustainable systems for distributing new knowledge. These advances benefit:

• Researchers: SPARC encourages development of high-quality, lower-cost delivery channels, which will drive expanded access.

• Publisher Partners: Working with a variety of publishers whose business goals are compatible with SPARC, SPARC supports development of vibrant and economically viable new models of scholarly communication.

• Libraries: By fostering development of new alternatives to established high-price journals, SPARC encourages the kind of competition that will bring skyrocketing journal prices back to earth. Libraries will get more for their money.

• Society: Research conducted by faculty at universities, often with the aid of government funds, propels key advancements benefiting the economy. SPARC facilitates improved and expanded communication of this research.