#GeneralNewsandDiscussion
I will send these to Marilyn via e-mail as well.
JM1. Public Access to Federally-funded Research
Brief Background/Legislative History: On December 26, 2007 the NIH Policy became mandatory with passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764). Federal Research Public Access Act (2006) (FRPAA) was reintroduced in the current Congress on June 25, 2009 by Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and Sen John Cornyn, co sponsor. The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2009 (S. 1373) aims “to help ensure free, timely online access to the published results of taxpayer funded research produced by 11 U.S. federal agencies and departments.” The Federal Government funds over billions in research annually. Open access to federally funded research is key to ensure transparency in government and access to government information. FRPAA provides for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating to unclassified research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency. It extends and advances the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy which requires public access to published results of NIH funded research no later than 12 months after publication via PubMed Central. With FRPAA, researchers employed or funded by a federal agency with an annual research budget exceeding $100 million who publishes a manuscript based on the work done for the funding agency in a peer-reviewed journal must submit the electronic copy of the final manuscript to be made available in a free and stable archive or repository within six months after it has been published.
Current Status: The FRPAA bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the President, has requested input from the community regarding enhancing public access to archived publications resulting from research funded by Federal science and technology agencies. This RFI will be active from December 10, 2009 to January 21, 2010. Impact on Academic Libraries: Unfortunately, access to the published results of research information paid for with tax dollars is limited at most universities and colleges. Academic libraries simply cannot afford ready access to most of the research literature that their faculty and students need. The high cost of the limited subscriptions we can afford to the scholarly journals that traditionally publish federally funded research means that we are unable to devote our acquisition budgets to other important information resources. Open access to federally funded research, in both the natural and social sciences, from a wide array of federal agencies would substantially improve this situation. Indeed, the growth of PubMed Central as a result of the NIH Public Access Policy has already been of great benefit to the students, faculty, and communities we serve. Local, regional, and national scholarly communication programs will want to track the implementation of this policy in order to inform their response to additional proposed funder mandates.
Links to other information:
· ALA-ACRL Comments on OSTP Public Access Policy http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/Public%20Access%20Forum/ALA-ACRL+Comments+to+OSTP+FINAL.pdf
· Public Access Policies for Science and Technology Funding Agencies Across the Federal Government Request for comment http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-29322.htm
ACRL Position: ACRL supports enhanced access to federally-funded research through open access publication and open data policies. ACRL strongly supports S.1373.