... Several universities have adopted something called an “Open Access Directive” which means that faculty agree to retain non-exclusive copyright to their own publications, sharing it with their home institutuions. ...
Under the terms of the directive, which is automatic, scholar/authors will deposit a copy of the publication in an open access database, which will ensure that the publication is available to all, regardless of location or ability to pay. Such repositories are proliferating at institutions across the country and Trinity is no exception. Trinity and a group of other institutions of our type have created the Liberal Arts Scholarly Repository to house the scholarly products of our student and faculty researchers.
In order to explore the possibility of establishing such a policy at Trinity, Michael Fischer and Chuck White ask you to serve on a working group to explore this idea and to make a recommendation to us regarding this possibility. We expect that open meetings would be held for faculty to learn about the implications and possibilities for such a policy, to ask questions and make suggestions. Communication with other colleges regarding this might also be a part of the process. (Oberlin College is a likely collaborator). We have asked Jorge Gonzalez to chair this group and he has agreed to do so. ...
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.
