1. SPARC News

NIH UPDATE: Congressional hearing on legislation to overturn the NIH Public Access Policy

On September 9, Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, introduced legislation that would amend U.S. copyright law, overturn the NIH Public Access Policy, and effectively make it illegal for other U.S. federal agencies to enact similar policies. The proposed legislation is the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (HR6845).

On September 11, 2008, the House Subcommittee on the Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet held a hearing to discuss the proposed legislation. Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC and convener of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, spoke on behalf of the libraries, research institutions, consumer groups, publishing organizations, and patients who support public access and the NIH Policy. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the NIH, also testified to the tremendous advances in science that have already taken place due to public access to NIH-funded research. Transcripts of both Dr. Zerhouni's [PDF] and Ms. Joseph's [PDF] testimony are available online as is as the video [SMI] of the hearing.

The supportive testimony was the culmination of weeks' worth of active engagement by members of the wide coalition that supports public access. Letters that were submitted to Congress to express support for the policy and oppose HR6845 include: Nine national and regional library, publishing, and advocacy organizations [PDF]; and 33 Nobel prize-winners [PDF].

Supporters are encouraged to contact their Senators and Representatives to affirm their support for free and open access to publicly funded research and ask that they oppose HR6845. A specific call to action will be issued shortly. Please visit the ATA Web site for updates.

See "Articles of Interest," below, for media coverage of the hearing.

More SPARC News:

    * SPARC announces international speaker roster for November repositories meeting
    * First Open Access Day to be held October 14, 2008
    * ATA introduces Perspectives, a new series to highlight voices across the coalition on the enduring and often personal importance of public access to taxpayer-funded research in individual lives

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2. Partner News

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

    * MPS and PLoS agree upon central funding of publication fees
    * OA blogs from eIFL countries
    * More than 200,000 articles searchable through DOAJ
    * September 2008 issue of ScienceWatch has an interview with Matt Cockerill, the publisher of BioMed Central
    * OJS now available in Farsi
    * PKP 2009 Conference in Vancouver Announced

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Available in SPARC Podcasts & Media:
 
Video from the SPARC-ACRL forum on
Campus Open Access Policies
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3. Industry Roundup

Please see the Open Access News Blog

for more on these and other industry developments from the past month.

    * The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) has released a Statement on Alternative Publishing Models & Open Access
    * Duke Law School's OA journals and repository
    * Blackwell's hybrid program raises its publication fee
    * Another patient advocacy group joins the campaign for OA
    * Access to Knowledge in Brazil
    * APA finalizes its no-fee green policy
    * Australian gov. report recommends OA, CC
    * How Ireland will provide OA to its publicly funded research
    * Call for publicly funded OA journals in China

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4. SPARC Resources for Authors

    * 33 Nobel prize-winners support the NIH Public Access Policy and oppose attempts to weaken it or halt its implementation [PDF]

More SPARC Resources for Authors.

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5. SPARC Resources for Publishers

    * Our publisher resource page has been updated with details on the NIH public access policy, including rising author submission rates and links to publisher policies and the NIH.

 More SPARC Resources for Publishers. 

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6. SPARC Resources for Students

    * You're invited! Sign up to participate in Open Access Day, October 14, 2008
    * CALL FOR ENTRIES: 2008 SPARKY AWARDS - Competition showcases student productions, offers instructors a fun and thought-provoking class assignment .

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

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7. Upcoming events

SAVE THE DATE:

The SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting 2008
November 17 and 18, 2008,  Baltimore, MD
 
Open Access Day
October 14, 2008
Everywhere!

September 24 - 25, 2008
Boston Library Consortium: Universal Access Digital Library Summit
"Public Policies Response to Digitization"

September 26, 2008
NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program

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

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8.  Articles of Interest

Congressional Hearing Over Public Access Filled With High Drama, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 12, 2008

Protecting Copyright: Bill would protect publishers' investment, affect NIH policy, Chemical and Engineering News, September 11, 2008

At Hearing, Witness Says NIH Policy Will "Destroy" Commercial Scientific Publishing, Library Journal Academic Newswire, September 11, 2008

New Bill Would Forbid Copyright Transfer as a Condition for Federal Funding, Library Journal Academic Newswire, September 11, 2008

Is the NIH Public Mandate in Danger?, Library Journal Academic Newswire, September 9, 2008

NIH Update: PubMed Central Numbers Surge Dramatically in July, Library Journal Academic Newswire, September 4, 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.