A comment to the announcement below:
"Fostering cost-effective alternative means of publishing, especially
those that take advantage of electronic information technologies..."
This certainly is a laudable initiative. I just wonder whether
accessibility for everyone is part of the picture.
Is anyone on this list involved in this or similar initiatives (such as
SPARC)? Is access for all being considered? If not, any ideas of how we
can get our voices heard in these groups?
Axel
-----Original Message-----
From: Alison Buckholtz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 10:26 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: ACRL's new scholarly communication initiative
NEWS
For Immediate Release
Contact: Mary Ellen K. Davis
April 9, 2002
312-280-3248
[log in to unmask]
ACRL begins scholarly communication initiative
Prioritizes plans for education, advocacy, coalition-building, research
(CHICAGO) - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
announced today that it will embark on a three-year scholarly
communications initiative as one of its highest strategic priorities.
Addressing issues critical to the future of all academic libraries,
the association will work to reshape the current system of scholarly
communications, focusing in the areas of education, advocacy,
coalition building and research. Broad goals of the initiative
include creating increased access to scholarly information; fostering
cost-effective alternative means of publishing, especially those that
take advantage of electronic information technologies; and
encouraging scholars to assert greater control over scholarly
communications.
"The librarian-faculty relationship is the cornerstone of the
academic library system," said ACRL President Mary Reichel. "When
librarians and faculty work together to improve the scholarly
communication system, everyone benefits. ACRL's leadership role in
the academic library community means that it has a unique role to
play in improving access to scholarly information, and this new
initiative provides a framework for our ongoing efforts."
Beginning with the American Library Association (ALA) Annual
Conference in June 2002, ACRL will establish a standing committee on
scholarly communications. The committee will be responsible for
coordinating the association's scholarly communications activities,
under the general direction of the ACRL board. ACRL also will create
a discussion group to encourage member participation on scholarly
communications issues, and a visiting program officer will be hired
to work on implementing plans.
ACRL's board of directors voted in January 2002 to begin the
scholarly communications initiative, based on the report of a
scholarly communications task force chaired by Ray English, Director
of Libraries at Oberlin College. The task force sought broad input
from ACRL members regarding their assessment of the importance of
scholarly communications issues and the role ACRL could play in
addressing them.
Further information regarding this initiative will be announced in
the May 2002 issue of College & Research Libraries News.
ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America
that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique
needs of academic librarians. ACRL's 1,000 members are comprised of
individuals from a wide range of academic institutions, publishers
and vendors who sell in the academic marketplace. ACRL enhances the
effectiveness of academic and research librarians to advance
learning, teaching and research in higher education. More
information about ACRL's programs and services can be located on the
Web at www.ala.org/acrl.html. ACRL is a division of the ALA.
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Alison Buckholtz
Associate Enterprise Director
SPARC -- The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition
21 Dupont Circle, Ste. 800, Washington, DC 20036 USA
T: 202 296 2296 x115 * F: 202 872 0884 * E: [log in to unmask]
http://www.arl.org/sparc http://www.sparceurope.org
http://www.arl.org/sparc/DI
http://www.createchange.org
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