SPARC-ACRL forum at ALA: Focusing on the Berlin Open Access Declaration

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For immediate release
May 3, 2011

SPARC-ACRL forum at ALA: Focusing on the Berlin Open Access 
Declaration

Washington, DC and Chicago, IL -- The upcoming SPARC-ACRL forum 
on emerging issues in scholarly communication, to be held at the 
American Library Association (ALA) meeting in New Orleans, LA, 
will focus on expanding support for the Berlin Declaration on 
Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The 
Declaration, issued in 2003, outlines concrete steps to promote 
the Internet as a medium for disseminating global knowledge, 
including encouraging researchers and cultural heritage 
custodians to make materials openly available.

The goals of the declaration are advanced in part by an annual 
conference of international leaders. In 2011, this meeting will 
take place in North America for the first time, offering a unique 
opportunity for the library community to continue its leadership 
role in advancing Open Access. The Berlin Declaration has 
garnered signatures from nearly 300 research institutions, 
libraries, archives, museums, funding agencies, and governments 
from around the world -- including the leaders of organizations 
ranging from the Max Plank Society to the Chinese Academy of 
Sciences, to Academia Europaea. Most recently, both Harvard 
University and the International Federation of Library 
Associations added their names to the roster.

The next SPARC-ACRL forum will explore the motivations behind the 
Berlin Declaration and its impact on the global research 
community. It will also present the opportunity for North 
American libraries to encourage their institutions to sign onto 
the document and become engaged in further advancing Open Access 
by promoting the statement?s call to action.

The forum will be held Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 4:00 to 6:00 
PM at the Morial Convention Center, Room 383. The ACRL Scholarly 
Communications Discussion Group, which offers a more intimate 
setting to explore topics in greater depth, will explore how we 
can bring a global action like the Berlin Open Access Declaration 
to our own institutions through our education and outreach 
programs.  The Discussion Group will be held Sunday, June 26, 
from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM at the New Orleans Marriott, Mardi Gras H 
Room.

Separate registration for this event is not required. For further 
details on the forum, visit http://www.arl.org/sparc/forum.

For details on the Berlin Declaration, visit 
http://oa.mpg.de/lang/en-uk/berlin-prozess/berliner-erklarung/.

For details on the Berlin 9 Open Access Conference, visit 
http://www.berlin9.org.

##

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 
nearly 13,000 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. ACRL is on the Web at 
http://www.acrl.org.

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Jennifer McLennan
Director of Programs & Operations
SPARC
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 x121
Fax: (202) 872-0884