On February 10, SURF announced the Kick Off (in Dutch) of the Dutch Open Access Year. (For some reason, Google Translate doesn't accept the page, but here's the link to the English translation in case the problem is merely temporary.)
The Dutch higher education sector has declared 2009 to be 'Open Access Year'. The aim is to boost Open Access to the results of scientific/scholarly and practice-based research. Efforts will be made throughout the year to formulate and implement an Open Access policy, develop and improve the knowledge infrastructure, establish a clear legal framework, and create awareness with all stakeholders. The parties involved are the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Dutch higher education sector, and research institutions. SURF will act as the coordinator....
Dr Sijbolt Noorda, chairman of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), says that "It's in the interests of scientists and scholars for their publications to be digitally available for anyone in the world. It's in the interest of the general public too. Material that's been paid for out of our taxes can then be accessed and used by everyone." ...
Apart from Dr Noorda, various other administrators, university professors, and university deans have given their views on Open Access in a short film commissioned by SURF. The film can be viewed on a number of websites and on YouTube.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/23/2009 09:47:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
