---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2006 10:14:33 -0400
From: Jennifer Heffelfinger <[log in to unmask]>
To: Alliance for Taxpayer Access <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [ATA-MEMBERS] 53 College Presidents Lead Newest Show of Support
    for Public Access Act

Alliance for Taxpayer Access
www.taxpayeraccess.org

Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
September 6, 2006

53 College Presidents Lead Newest Show of Support for Public Access Act

Washington, DC – September 6, 2006 – Fifty-three liberal arts college  
presidents from across the United States, representing twenty-two  
states and approximately two-thirds of the institutions in the  
Oberlin Group of Liberal Arts College Libraries, joined together to  
sign a letter of support for the Federal Research Public Access Act  
of 2006 (S.2695). The legislation, originally introduced by Senator  
John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), would require  
federal agencies that fund over $100 million in annual external  
research to make manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles  
stemming from that research publicly available via the Internet.

The letter, issued today, is the first from the highest academic  
institutional level and added evidence that support for the Public  
Access Act exists across the wide breadth of the higher education  
community. The presidents’ letter notes, “Academic libraries simply  
cannot afford ready access to most of the research literature that  
their faculty and students need,” and that “[the Act] will benefit  
education, research, and the general public.” The full text of the  
letter is below and online at http://www.oberlingroup.org/about/ 
frpaa.pdf.

To the Higher Education Community:

As liberal arts college presidents, we are writing to express our  
strong support for S. 2695, the Federal Research Public Access Act of  
2006, which has been introduced into the U.S. Senate by Senators John  
Cornyn (R-TX) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT).  This bill would require  
federal agencies whose external research budgets exceed $100 million  
to develop policies that would ensure public access via the Internet  
to their funded research.

Liberal arts colleges are important components of our nation’s  
scientific and scholarly productivity.  Studies have shown that our  
institutions are highly effective in producing graduates who go on to  
obtain Ph.D. degrees in the sciences.  Our faculty actively pursue  
scientific research, much of it with government funding, and often  
working in partnership with talented undergraduates who later become  
productive scientists.  Unfortunately, access to research information  
paid for with tax dollars is severely limited at our institutions-- 
and indeed at most universities.  Academic libraries simply cannot  
afford ready access to most of the research literature that their  
faculty and students need.

The Federal Research Public Access Act would be a major step forward  
in ensuring equitable online access to research literature that is  
paid for by taxpayers. The federal government funds over $55 billion  
in research annually.  Research supported by the National Institutes  
of Health, which accounts for approximately one-third of federally  
funded research, produces an estimated 65,000 peer-reviewed journal  
articles each year.  Given the scope of research literature that  
would become available online, it is clear that adoption of the bill  
would have significant benefits for the progress of science and the  
advancement of knowledge.

We are also supportive of the Federal Research Public Access Act  
because it has been crafted in a way that provides ample protection  
for the system of peer review. It provides a six-month window,  
following publication in peer-reviewed journals, before manuscripts  
are required to be openly accessible on the Internet.  This embargo  
period on access to publicly-funded research safeguards the interests  
of scholarly societies and other publishers.  In addition, the bill  
leaves control of the final published version of articles, which is  
generally used for citation purposes, in the hands of publishers.

Adoption of the Federal Research Public Access Act will democratize  
access to research information funded by tax dollars.  It will  
benefit education, research, and the general public.  We urge the  
higher education community, American taxpayers, and members of  
Congress to support its passage into law.

[The list of 53 signatories is online at http://www.oberlingroup.org/ 
about/frpaa.pdf.]

###

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of patient, academic,  
research, and publishing entities that support expanded access to the  
results of federally funded research, including passage of the  
Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006. The Alliance was formed  
in 2004 to urge that peer-reviewed articles on taxpayer-funded  
research become fully accessible and available online at no extra  
cost to the American public. Details on the ATA may be found at  
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.

Contact:
Jennifer Heffelfinger
[log in to unmask]
(202) 296-2296 ext. 121


-------------------------------------
Jennifer Heffelfinger
Director of Communications
SPARC
[log in to unmask]
(202) 296-2296 x121
Fax: (202) 872-0884
www.arl.org/sparc