A FASTR Open Access | Hack Library School

abernard102@gmail.com 2013-02-23

Summary:

"Last week Nicole discussed getting political, and the very next day an opportunity came. On February 14, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) was introduced in both the House and Senate. As a library school student who is passionate about open access and interested in scholarly communications, this bill is exciting! This bi-partisan bill has the potential to have a great impact for access. No matter what type of librarianship you pursue, this bill could significantly help your future patrons. Maybe it will be an adult patron wanting to read a study, a high schooler doing his first research paper, or a university student working on her honors thesis—all needing articles from a journal that your library cannot afford to subscribe to. Sometimes when I think of open access I hear Oprah’s voice shouting, 'You get articles! And you get articles! Everybody gets articles!' All right, maybe that is a bit weird… but for librarians, information becoming more accessible is kind of like a dream come true ... But don’t just take my word for it. An important part of getting political is getting fully informed. There is a great summary in the Harvard Open Access Project’s wiki, which I have found helpful. Additionally, SPARC has created a FAQ about the bill and you can read the bill here. The bill has been endorsed by ten major library and advocacy organizations, including the American Library Association, the Association of College & Research Libraries, and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries.  If you’re supportive of the bill, then you can stretch your activist muscles and practice getting political. Here are some things you can do:  1. Ask your representatives in Congress to co-sponsor the bill.  2. Thank the co-sponsors that introduced the bill by sending an e-mail or letter to Representatives Mike Doyle, Kevin Yoder, and Zoe Lofgre and SenatorsJohn Cornyn and Ron Wyden.  3. Raise awareness! You can tweet about #FASTR, post on Facebook, or e-mail your friends..."

Link:

http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/fastr/

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.comment oa.libass oa.mandates oa.usa oa.legislation oa.advocacy oa.libraries oa.social_media oa.twitter oa.librarians oa.sparc oa.faqs oa.arl oa.ala oa.acrl oa.facebook oa.ata oa.fastr oa.aahsl oa.policies

Date tagged:

02/23/2013, 09:51

Date published:

02/23/2013, 04:51