UK libraries trial free access to scientific research • The Register

"Hundreds of thousands of journal articles are to be made available to the public in Blighty's local libraries after a government consultation on how to expand access to publicly funded research. The Access to Research Initiative is kicking off a two-year pilot programme today, after major publishers like the Nature Group, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bloomsbury, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press signed up to the project. The Initiative will give people access to more than 8,000 journals from around the world with articles from a range of research fields including health, physics, politics and biological sciences ..."