Cathy Sarli, et al., SPEC Kit 311: Public Access Policies, Association of Research Libraries, August 2009. Only this executive summary is OA. Excerpt:
In many academic and research institutions, libraries have taken the lead in developing resources and services to support authors who are required to comply with public access policies. This survey was designed to explore the role libraries are playing in supporting public access policies in their institutions. ...
The survey was distributed to the 123 ARL member libraries in February 2009. Seventy libraries (57%) from 67 institutions responded ...
The majority of the libraries responding to this survey provide, or plan to provide, resources and services that help authors affiliated with their institution (and/or their support staff) to comply with public access policies (PAP). ...
[T]he top four library activities are monitoring PAP developments, developing resources and programs, coordinating services, and consulting with authors and/or their support staff on PAP compliance. ... A less common practice among individuals or committees is providing mediated deposits for authors in the form of third-party submissions. ...
It was clear from the survey responses that library staff members involved in supporting PAP compliance in their institutions rely on a number of different resources to stay current on PAP developments. The top resources used by librarians — listed by over three-quarters of the respondents — were Web sites of national/international organizations, electronic discussion lists, and attendance at conferences. Over 50% utilize blogs and in-house presentations, workshops, and/or discussions to stay current. Academic newsletters and RSS feeds were used by over 40% of respondents. SPARC (Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) was also cited as a source for current information about PAP compliance. ...
It is evident from the responses that interactions with authors who are required to comply with PAPs have allowed ARL libraries many opportunities to introduce peripheral issues such as author rights, copyright and intellectual property, open access publishing, and institutional repositories ...
While PAPs in general are a relatively new development, the level of resources and services developed by the responding libraries and their alliance-building collaborative efforts provide a prime example of how libraries are evolving to address the complexity of research in the 21st century coupled with the transformation of information technology. Such targeted program efforts to leverage expertise and resource sharing for PAP compliance support is evidence that libraries are poised to quickly and efficiently respond to possible future mandates, including the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA).
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 8/13/2009 05:02:00 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.
