SPARC Blog (SPARC)

At SPARC, we're always on the look-out for ways to stay in touch with members and: keep you up to speed on the latest developments; put emerging trends on your radar; and connect you with experts in the move for change. Blogs, tried and true, are a great way to do all of these things. So, welcome to the SPARC blog, the latest addition to the SPARC Web portfolio. As always, SPARC member suggestions and contributions are welcome. Please share with Andrea Brusca Higginbotham through andrea [at] arl [dot] org.
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Sign the White House Petition on Open Access to Research Today!
May 21, 2012
By Heather Joseph.
We now have a brief, critical window of opportunity to demonstrate that we as a community firmly believe should be a high priority for the Administration to act on right now. To help accomplish this, today, May 21st, a petition calling for Public Access to all Federally Funded Research has been posted to the White House's "We the People" Website. If the petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action.
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Bipartisan Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) Continues to Gain Support in Congress
May 1, 2012
By Andrea Higginbotham.
Good news for supporters of open access to the results of taxpayer funded research this week, as Members of Congress continue to express their support for the proposed legislation.
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SPARC’s First Open Access Meeting a Success
March 15, 2012
By Andrea Higginbotham.
SPARC just wrapped up a very successful first-ever Open Access (OA) Meeting in Kansas City, MO. This meeting built on the foundation established by the popular SPARC Digital Repositories meeting, and its expanded focus included information on institutional OA policies, author rights, and OA publishing. The 250 (very active!) participants represented librarians, researchers, publishers, and technologists from around the globe. The meeting program was designed to inspire the community and foster opportunities for collaborative action on all issues relating to open access.
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FPRAA takes Center Stage at Congressional Hearing
March 30, 2012
By Andrea Higginbotham.
Open access issues are clearly on the minds of U.S. lawmakers. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight conducted a hearing on the topic “Examining Public Access and Scholarly Publication Interests.” The hearing was designed to generate information regarding open access in general, but quickly turned into a discussion of the recently-reintroduced Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA).
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FRPAA in the Spotlight: Public Access Bill featured in Congressional Briefing, Two Dozen Bipartisan Co-sponsors add their Support.
March 20, 2012
By Heather Joseph.
Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s well-attended Congressional briefing on the issue of public access to the results of taxpayer funded research, 24 new bipartisan co-sponsors have officially been added to the roster of supporters for H.R. 4004, The Federal Research Public Access Act.
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Sponsors and Supporters back away from Research Works Act
February 27, 2012
By Heather Joseph.
Earlier today, Elsevier issued a statement withdrawing its support of the Research Works Act (RWA), a bill designed to overturn the popular NIH Public Access Policy, and prohibit the adoption of similar policies by other federal agencies.
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Prime Time for Public Access
February 9, 2012
By Heather Joseph.
Over the past several months, a remarkable series of events have conspired to bring the issue of access to publicly funded research squarely to the forefront of the public consciousness.
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Take Action: Oppose H.R. 3699, a new bill to block public access to publicly funded research
January 6, 2012
By Heather Joseph.
A new bill, The Research Works Act (H.R.3699), designed to roll back the NIH Public Access Policy and block the development of similar policies at other federal agencies has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded research need to speak out against this proposed legislation. Contact Congress to express your opposition today, or as soon as possible.
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Do you use the SPARC Web site a lot? Help us update it! 2011 redesign underway
April 6, 2011
By Jennifer McLennan.
It’s that time again. The five-year calendar has rolled over and we’re looking to bring the SPARC site into the new digital era (how things have changed!). We’ve got plenty of usage statistics and technology trends to help guide us, but your direct input would be even better. If you can spare a minute, please share your thoughts.
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Open-access titles hit #2 for usage at UNCG
March 31, 2011
By University of North Carolina—Greensboro (SPARC member).
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Call for OA Research and Data as Humanitarian Assistance to Japan (from the SPARC blog)
March 23, 2011
By Heather Joseph.
As we continue to collectively look for ways to support our colleagues in Japan as they work to recover from the unprecedented events of earlier this month, SPARC would like to reinforce a request made by Peter Suber this past weekend. We are collecting -- and posting to the SPARC Open Access Forum (SOAF) -- information on any initiatives that are offering free online access to research or data as humanitarian assistance to Japan. The initiatives may be gold, green, gratis, libre, partial, temporary, or any variation on the theme.
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Publishers accommodate NIH-funded authors
March 14, 2011
By Peter Suber.
For years, I've been saying (in my blog, the newsletter, public talks) that "all" or "virtually all" publishers accommodate NIH-funded authors. But it was hard to point to evidence. This problem is now solved.
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3rd Anniversary of the NIH Public Access Policy: Call for Stories
March 10, 2011
By Heather Joseph.
April 7, 2011 will mark the 3rd Anniversary of the implementation NIH Public Access Policy. With more than 2 million full-text articles reporting on the latest NIH-funded research now contained in PubMed Central, researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs now have a rich new resource at their disposal. With nearly a *half a million* individuals accessing the database each and every day, we'd like to know what *your* experience has been with it.