The Governing Board of NYSHEI has joined the chorus of opposition to H.R. 801, the “Fair Copyright in Research Works” act introduced in the House of Representatives by John Conyers (D-MI).
Joining groups like the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and the Association of Research Libraries, NYSHEI unequivocally opposes this legislation that would prohibit American taxpayers from accessing the results of the crucial biomedical research funded by their taxpayer dollars, and stifle critical advancements in life-saving research and scientific discovery.
“This is a very bad bill,” said NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer. “Knowledge and information should be widely available to the public - particularly when the public paid for it.”
“As exemplified by ARIA (Academic Research Information Access), NYSHEI strives to broaden access to all manner of information. We therefore must strongly object to Mr. Conyers proposal,” said Kramer.
NYSHEI is asking the entire New York Congressional delegation to oppose this legislation and asks all NYSHEI member librarians to similarly voice their opposition.
Comments
Kudos to NYSHEI. It's important for other statewide organizations devoted to research, education, libraries, or health care to take a similar stand and communicate with their Congressional delegations.
Universities, which have the same interests and generally support the NIH policy and oppose the Conyers bill, are slow to act. Other organizations must take up the slack and represent their interests. Will the AAU do this on a national scale, now that it has endorsed the "broadest possible access" to research?
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/22/2009 01:35:00 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.
