Re: UK article on Open Access

["\"FrederickFriend\"" <ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk>]

Heather is absolutely right. The momentum for change in scholarly
communication is continuing. To one who was present at the Messina meeting
two weeks ago the academic support for open access was very impressive,
with a long line of representatives from Italian universities coming onto
the dais to sign the Berlin/Messina Declaration. And I would not wish our
colleagues outside the UK to form the impression that all UK developments
have come to a grinding halt because of the Government Response to the
Parliamentary Report. The work of JISC in supporting repository
development and open access journal initiatives is continuing, and strong
academic support is being expressed by the Wellcome Trust and by members
of the UK Research Councils. Given the size and complexity of the
scholarly communication system the degree of change over the past two
years has been remarkable, but those of us who are working for change
realise that this is a long-term process.

Fred Friend