For more information, contact:

Jennifer McLennan
SPARC
(202) 296-2996 ext. 121
jennifer@arl.org

Kara Malenfant
ACRL
(312) 280-2510
kmalenfant@ala.org

SPARC-ACRL Forum addresses Harvard open access policy

Washington, DC & CHICAGO ¬ April 22, 2008 ¬ SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing
and Academic Resources Coalition) and the Association of College and
Research Libraries (ACRL) announce that the SPARC-ACRL Forum during the 2008
American Library Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., will provide a timely
look at Campus Open Access Policies: The Harvard Experience and How to Get
There.² Co-sponsored by the Association for Library Collections and
Technical Services? Continuing Resources Section (formerly Serials Section)
(ALCTS-CRS), the forum will give an up-close look at the recent vote by
Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences enabling open access to their
scholarly articles in an institutional repository.

The Harvard vote grants the university the rights necessary to archive and
make freely available on the Internet articles written by Arts and Sciences
faculty members. It is the first time the faculty of a U.S. university has
voted for an open access directive and the first time a faculty has granted
permission to the university to make its articles available through open
access.

The forum will offer an exploration of the motivations behind the Harvard
policy, the groundwork invested in its creation, reactions and outcomes to
date, and the broader implications of this historic step. Headlining the
event will be Stuart M. Shieber, professor of computer science at Harvard,
director of the Center for Research on Computation and Society, faculty
co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and the key
architect of the policy.

Shieber will be joined by Catherine Candee, executive director, Strategic
Publishing and Broadcast Initiatives, from the office of the president of
the University of California, who will relate similar activity in the UC
system; and by Kevin L. Smith, JD, scholarly communications officer at Duke
University, who will suggest legal considerations for institutions following
the open access policy path.

The 17th biennial SPARC-ACRL Forum will be held from 4 ¬ 5:30 p.m. on
Saturday, June 28, in room 210 A-C of the Anaheim Convention Center. The
ACRL Scholarly Communications Discussion Group will additionally host an
open conversation about issues that surface at the Forum from 4 ¬ 5:30 p.m.
on Sunday, June 29, in room 203B. Please consult the final program to verify
room assignments.

The Forum will be available via SPARC podcast at a later date. For more
information, visit the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc/forum
<http://www.arl.org/sparc/forum> .

##

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 more than 13,500 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.

ALCTS
The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), a
division of the American Library Association (ALA), is comprised of nearly
5,000 members from across the United States and 42 countries from around the
globe. It is the premier resource for information specialists in collection
development, preservation, and technical services and is the leader in the
development of principles, standards, and best practices for creating,
collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving information resources in
all forms.

--------------------------
Jennifer McLennan
Director of Communications
SPARC
(The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition)
http://www.arl.org/sparc
**************************
**************************
(202) 296-2296 ext 121
jennifer@arl.org
*************************************

Anne E. McKee, MLS
Program Officer for Resource Sharing
Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)
6635 W. Happy Valley Road
Suite A104, #302
Glendale, AZ  85310
623 583 6411
623 583 6412-fax
Anne@GWLA.org

“Ultimately I want generations after me to know this about the culture of
blood and the culture of adoption: That blood is thicker than water, but
love can be thicker than blood.”
Hollee McGinnis, New York Times, Dec. 2007