1. SPARC News

2. Partner News

Please see the SPARC Web site for a complete list of news from SPARC partners.

• eIFL call for cooperation 
• eIFL launches portal of IRs from developing and transition countries
• BMC launches Molecular Cytogenetics

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Now available in SPARC Podcasts:

Working with the Facebook Generation: Engaging Student Views on Access to Scholarship (The SPARC-ACRL Forum at ALA Midwinter, January 12, 2008)
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3. Industry Roundup

Please see the SPARC Web site  for a complete listing of relevant industry news and details on these highlights, including selected commentary from Peter Suber. 

• Managing Copyright for NIH Public Access (An ARL Preprint)
• U.S. physics advisory panel supports SCOAP3 
• OASIS: A new OSI-supported OA source book to launch in June
• Purdue endorses CIC author addendum 
• OA mandate at CIHR takes effect 
• Past and future of the NIH public access policy
• Microsoft Word add-in for NLM format - Prepares articles in the XML format of the National Library of Medicine
• U Delaware prof deposits books to Institutional Repository 
• Rockefeller UP: No delay on implementing NIH policy
• The state of OA policy in Australia

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4. SPARC Resources for Authors

• New video highlights the benefits of rights management for authors 
• New Create Change interview features Carolyn Kenny, for Music Therapy & Indigenous Studies

**SHARE YOUR CREATE CHANGE STORIES: SPARC is looking for input on the Create Change Web site. If you've used the site directly or as a tool to engage others on campus, we want to know what you think. Please email Jennifer McLennan (jennifer [at] arl [dot] org) to share your Create Change story.  

More SPARC Resources for Authors.

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5. SPARC Resources for Publishers

• NISO Issues Best Practices for Shared E-Resource Understanding (SERU) 

More SPARC Resources for Publishers.  

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6. SPARC Resources for Students

Calling all students! Open Students, a new SPARC-sponsored blog for students, is seeking contributors and guest authors. Contributors will write regularly for fellow students about the latest news from the open access movement. Please share this opportunity! For information, email Gavin Baker at gavin [at] openstudents [dot] org 

New from openstudents.org:

• Open access meets undergrad research... please? By Gloria Tavera
• Open access for critical and cultural theory: Open Humanities Press, by Sigi Jöttkandt
• Remember, your library card expires when you graduate, by Gavin Baker
• Open access advocate learns from her students, by Gavin Baker

Read more on the SPARC-sponsored, Baker-authored Open Students Blog.
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7. Upcoming events 

Bring SPARC's Right to Research campaign to students on your campus! For information on scheduling an event, contact Gavin Baker at gavin [at] arl [dot] org 

SAVE THE DATE:
2008 SPARC Institutional Repositories Meeting
November 17 and 18, 2008,  Baltimore, MD 

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Culture of Sharing, with Gavin Baker and Nelson Pavlosky
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Students: The Right to Research, with Gavin Baker
Carleton College

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Students: The Right to Research, with Gavin Baker
St. Olaf College

May 21-24, 2008
LIBRARIES & PUBLISHING 3.0: - connecting authors to readers in the digital age
Canadian Library Association Annual Conference & Trade Show
(SPARC-sponsored pre-conference) 

These and other important events can be found on the SPARC Activities Calendar. 

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8.  Articles of Interest

• Proponents: Slow Better Than Poor For WIPO Development Agenda, Intellectual Property Watch, March 21, 2008.
• Clinical knowledge: from access to action, The Lancet, March 11, 2008 *Available to subscribers only
• Information Liberation, The Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2008
• Celebrations and Tough Questions Follow Harvard's Move to Open Access, The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 21, 2008
• Open access to brilliant insights, Boston Globe, February 19, 2008
• Harvard passes OA mandate, Library Journal, February 14, 2008
• The Case for Open Access, The Harvard Crimson, February 12, 2008
• At Harvard, a Proposal to Publish Free on Web, New York Times, February 12, 2008
• Profile of the IR at U. of British Columbia, UBC Reports, February 7, 2008
• One Way to Rein In Textbook Costs: Make Them Free, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 1, 2008
• LJ Academic Newswire Newsmaker Interview: Student Open Access Activist Gavin Baker, Library Journal Academic Newswire, January 31, 2008

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You can help open access to research.

SPARC membership is open to North American and international academic and research institutions that share an interest in creating a more open and diverse marketplace for scholarly communication. Visit the SPARC Web site to learn how.