[GOAL] Fwd: [sparc-ir] Call to Action: Support the Bipartisan Federal Public Access Act

[Stevan Harnad]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrea Higginbotham <andrea at arl.org>
Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Subject: [sparc-ir] Call to Action: Support the Bipartisan Federal
Public Access Act
To: SPARC IR <sparc-ir at arl.org>


We have just posted an important, new call to action asking you to
support the Federal Research Public Access Act
(http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/issues/frpaa/frpaa_action/FRPAA2012.shtml).
This is a bipartisan bill introduced last week in the U.S. Senate (S.
2096) and House of Representatives (H.R. 4004) that would make all US
government funded research freely available within 6 months of
publication in a peer-reviewed journal.  Our call to action includes
action items, background, talking points, and resources, and links to
our legislative action center where people can write their
representatives directly.



We currently have a unique opportunity to create change. The Research
Works Act (H.R. 3699), a piece of legislation introduced in December
that would ban the government from providing the public access to
publicly funded research, has galvanized the research community into
acting against practices that restrict access to research articles –
reaching the pages of the Economist, the New York Times, Wired, the
Guardian, the Boston Globe, Slate, and the Chronicle of Higher
Education.



The publishers of the two most prestigious scientific journals,
Science and Nature, have not only opposed the Research Works Act
publicly but also endorsed the National Institutes of Health public
access policy, which FRPAA would extend to the other federal science
agencies.



With reinvigorated support from the research community and attention
from the mainstream media, now is the time to push for this
groundbreaking legislation and let the US Congress know that the
public deserves access to the research which they paid for.



Your help in distributing our call to action to your members and
relevant email lists is much appreciated.



Best,



Andrea



Andrea Brusca Higginbotham

Communications Manager, SPARC

21 Dupont Circle, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

(202) 296-2296 ext 121

andrea at arl.org

www.arl.org/sparc