Emory Free Culture

I’ve been remiss in posting about the Open Access Rally. Attendance was low, and the newspaper photographer backed out at the last minute. We hope to present the resolution below to the new SGA legislature soon.

TITLE:

Resolution in Support of the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006

AUTHOR:

Brian Pitts

WHEREAS,

writing research papers is an essential feature of the curriculum of many Emory University courses; and

WHEREAS,

such assignments require access to articles published in academic journals; and

WHEREAS,

student access to scholarly literature is primarily provided by subscriptions through university libraries; and

WHEREAS,

U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) introduced Senate Bill 2695, the Federal Research Public Access Act, on May 2, 2006; and

WHEREAS,

the Federal Research Public Access Act is awaiting reintroduction in the 110th Congress; and

WHEREAS,

the Federal Research Public Access Act would require that U.S. government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of over $100 million make manuscripts of journal articles stemming from research funded by that agency publicly available via the Internet no later than six months after its publication in a peer-reviewed journal; and

WHEREAS,

the U.S. government invests more than $55 billion in research annually, resulting in thousands of journal articles published annually; and

WHEREAS,

this legislation will mean enhanced access to federally-funded research articles for researchers and students, according to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition; and

WHEREAS,

Emory University libraries support this policy through their membership in the Alliance for Taxpayer Access; then

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the students of the Emory University urge the Administration to publicly support the Federal Research Public Access Act and access to academic research; and

THEREFORE, BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED that the students of the Emory University urge the student governments of other universities to do likewise; and

THEREFORE, BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the students of the Emory University urge the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006.