10 Library, Publishing, and Advocacy Organizations Send Letter to Congress Opposing Research Works Act

Direct to Full Text Letter (3 pages; PDF) (via ARL)
A letter opposing the Research Works Act (H.R. 3699) was sent to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday (January 24, 2011).
It begins:

On behalf of these 10 national and regional library, publishing, and advocacy organizations, we are writing to express our strong opposition to H.R. 3699, The Research Works Act. This proposed legislation would unfairly and unnecessarily prohibit federal agencies from conditioning research grants to ensure that all members of the public receive timely, equitable, online access to articles that report the results of federally funded research that their tax dollars directly support.

The letter is signed by:

• American Association of Law Libraries
• American Library Association
• Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries
• Association of College and Research Libraries
• Association of Research Libraries
• Creative Commons
• Greater Western Library Alliance
• Public Knowledge
• Public Library of Science
• SPARC (Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition)

Direct to Full Text Letter (3 pages; PDF)
On a Related Note: “Elsevier needs to get out more” (via Open and Shut)
by Richard Poydner
Includes comments from Elsevier about why they support the legislation.

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Associations and Organizations, Elsevier, Funding, Libraries, PLOS, Public Libraries, Publishing