SPARC-ACRL Forum addresses Harvard open access policy

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For immediate release
April 22, 2008

For more information, contact:

Jennifer McLennan
SPARC
(202) 296-2996 ext. 121
jennifer@arl.org

Kara Malenfant
ACRL
(312) 280-2510
kmalenfant@ala.org

SPARC-ACRL Forum addresses Harvard open access policy

Washington, DC & CHICAGO =AD April 22, 2008 =AD SPARC (the Scholarly
Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and the Association
of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announce that the
SPARC-ACRL Forum during the 2008 American Library Annual
Conference in Anaheim, Calif., will provide a timely look at
"Campus Open Access Policies: The Harvard Experience and How to
Get There." Co-sponsored by the Association for Library
Collections and Technical Services-Continuing Resources
(ALCTS-CRS), the forum will give an up-close look at the recent
vote by Harvard=B9s Faculty of Arts and Sciences enabling open
access to their scholarly articles in an institutional
repository.

The Harvard vote grants the university the rights necessary to
archive and make freely available on the Internet articles
written by Arts and Sciences faculty members. It is the first
time the faculty of a U.S. university has voted for an open
access directive and the first time a faculty has granted
permission to the university to make its articles available
through open access.

The forum will offer an exploration of the motivations behind the
Harvard policy, the groundwork invested in its creation,
reactions and outcomes to date, and the broader implications of
this historic step. Headlining the event will be Stuart M.
Shieber, professor of computer science at Harvard, director of
the Center for Research on Computation and Society, faculty
co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and
the key architect of the policy.

Shieber will be joined by Catherine Candee, executive director,
Strategic Publishing and Broadcast Initiatives, from the office
of the president of the University of California, who will relate
similar activity in the UC system; and by Kevin L. Smith, JD,
scholarly communications officer at Duke University, who will
suggest legal considerations for institutions following the open
access policy path.

The 17th biennial SPARC-ACRL Forum will be held from 4 - 5:30
p.m. on Saturday, June 28, in room 210 A-C of the Anaheim
Convention Center. The ACRL Scholarly Communications Discussion
Group will additionally host an open conversation about issues
that surface at the Forum from 4 - 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 29,
in room 203 B. Please consult the final program to verify room
assignments.

The Forum will be available via SPARC podcast at a later date.
For more information, visit the SPARC Web site at
http://www.arl.org/sparc/forum.

##

SPARC

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition),
with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance
of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to
create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's
advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs
encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web
at http://www.arl.org/sparc/.

ACRL

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA), represents
more than 13,500 academic and research librarians and interested
individuals. It is the only individual membership organization in
North America that develops programs, products and services to
meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its
initiatives enable the higher education community to understand
the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning
and research environments.

ALCTS

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services
(ALCTS), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), is
comprised of nearly 5,000 members from across the United States
and 42 countries from around the globe. It is the premier
resource for information specialists in collection development,
preservation, and technical services and is the leader in the
development of principles, standards, and best practices for
creating, collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving
information resources in all forms.

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