Harvard Arts and Sciences Faculty recognized as newest SPARC Innovators

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For Immediate Release
June 26, 2008

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 ext 121

HARVARD ARTS AND SCIENCES FACULTY RECOGNIZED
AS NEWEST SPARC INNOVATORS

Washington, DC -- June 26, 2008 -- SPARC (the Scholarly 
Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has named the 
Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University as the newest 
SPARC Innovators for their unanimous vote in support of a policy 
that ensures Open Access to the faculty's published research 
results.

A February 12 vote made the Harvard faculty the first in the U.S. 
to embrace an Open Access directive and the first to grant 
permission to the university to make their articles openly 
available. The policy, drafted by a 10-member provost's 
committee, was ratified by unanimous vote of a quorum of faculty 
members.

The Harvard FAS vote and Open Access policy emerged at a time 
when there is growing concern among faculty that traditional 
publishing processes are not ensuring maximum access to their 
research.

"The FAS vote confirms that broadening access to their collective 
output is of fundamental importance to our faculty, and that they 
are willing to take strong and decisive action to ensure the 
accessibility of their works," adds Stuart M. Shieber, professor 
of computer science at Harvard, Chair of the provost's committee, 
and recently named director of the university's new Office of 
Scholarly Communication.

The new SPARC Innovator profile details the process that led to 
the faculty's ultimate vote.  It explores motivations behind the 
decision to take action, looks at how members of the faculty were 
informed and engaged, why the Open Access requirement and its 
opt-out provision emerged, and how Harvard has paved the way for 
other institutions to follow suit.

"People think Harvard can do this kind of thing because Harvard 
is so rich," said Shieber. "The irony is that the reason people 
here got involved was the financial unsustainability -- even at 
Harvard -- of the current scholarly publishing regime, which has 
led to a steady erosion of access as we and other institutions 
must cancel subscriptions. The goal of this and future policies 
we will develop is not to save money. The goal is to broaden 
access."

"Harvard's leadership on this issue is an inspiration to academic 
institutions across the country," said Diane Graves, University 
Librarian at Trinity University in San Antonio. "Thanks to 
Harvard's prestigious reputation and the unanimous vote by the 
Arts and Sciences faculty, colleges and universities throughout 
North America have the incentive to start -- or strengthen -- 
similar conversations between their libraries and the faculty. 
This landmark vote -- and the votes that are sure to follow -- 
signals the beginning of a new, sustainable model for scholarly 
communication."

"Harvard's success was possible because of the determination of 
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to ensure the widest exposure of 
their research. We hope their forward-looking step will serve as 
invitation to other campuses and departments of all kinds to 
explore their own policies for research access," said Heather 
Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC. "It is SPARC's pleasure to 
highlight their achievement in as many ways as we can."

"It always takes more work to be first," said Michael Carroll, 
professor of law at Villanova University and consultant on the 
policy. "The trail has now been broken and it's a lot easier for 
others to follow."

To read the full June 2008 SPARC Innovator profile, visit the 
SPARC Innovator Web page at http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator/.

The SPARC Innovator program recognizes advances in scholarly 
communication propelled by an individual, institution, or group. 
Typically, these advances exemplify SPARC principles by 
challenging the status quo in scholarly communication for the 
benefit of researchers, libraries, universities, and the public. 
SPARC Innovators are featured on the SPARC Web site semi-annually 
and have included student leaders; Ted and Carl Bergstrom; 
Melissa Hagemann of the Open Society Institute; the University of 
California; and Herbert Van de Sompel of the Los Alamos National 
Laboratory. SPARC Innovators are selected by the SPARC staff in 
consultation with the SPARC Steering Committee.

Individuals can nominate their colleagues as potential SPARC 
Innovators at http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator/nominate.html.

For further information or a list of previous SPARC Innovators, please
see the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

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