[FC-discuss] SPARC releases new campaign for student engagement

[Jennifer McLennan]

For Immediate Release
January 28, 2008
 
For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
jennifer at arl.org
(202) 296-2296 ext 121
 
SPARC RELEASES NEW CAMPAIGN FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENT
³The Right to Research² highlights Open Access benefits for students
 
Washington, DC ­ January 28, 2008 ­ SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition) has released a new educational initiative to
engage students on the topic of Open Access. ³The Right to Research: The
student guide to opening access to scholarship² repeats SPARC¹s call for
student voices to broaden the ongoing discussion of access to research.
 
The Right to Research is the anticipated product of a yearlong relationship
SPARC has explored with college students. Beginning with the launch of a Day
of Action for Open Access in February 2007 ­ conceived of and realized by
Students for Free Culture ­ the partnership culminated with the hire of the
first SPARC summer intern, Gavin Baker, and the genesis of The Right to
Research campaign.
 
The Right to Research:
 
* Helps students recognize the problem of access, saying they shouldn¹t have
to skip over research that could be important to their papers.
 
* Introduces the principle of Open Access, making a clear distinction
between the principle and the ways Open Access is being realized ­ through
OA journals, repositories, copyright management, and policies.
  
* Indicates how Open Access can make life as a student easier, advance
research, widen access to those who need it, and increase visibility for
student scholars.
  
* Offers ways to support OA for both graduate students approaching
publishing decisions and undergraduates who wish to adopt the OA cause.
 
³Today's students have come of age in the Internet era,² Baker said. ³Access
to knowledge is the norm for them, rather than the exception. Students
recognize how the lack of access is detrimental to research and education,
and how the subscription-only model can conflict with the ethic of the
academy, which is to share knowledge with everyone. I hope this guide will
engage students and help them become more active participants in the campus
conversation.²
 
³It¹s been such a pleasure to work with the students we¹ve met over the past
year,² said Heather Joseph, SPARC Executive Director. ³Their zeal and
commitment to all things open has been an inspiration for us ­ breathing new
life into the vision for scholarly exchange in future. We¹re glad to have
the chance to highlight our new colleagues and their accomplishments to the
academic community.²
 
The student campaign is launched on the heels of several SPARC-sponsored
student initiatives, including the December SPARC Innovator profile on
³Agents of Change: Student activists for Open Access;² the conclusion of the
first annual SPARKY awards, a video contest to showcase student views on
information sharing; and the highly successful SPARC-ACRL forum at ALA,
which focused on ³Working with the Facebook generation: Engaging student
views on access to scholarship.²
 
The Right to Research is a comprehensive educational initiative available
for use by libraries, student organizations and governments, and anyone else
interested. Tools include The Right to Research brochure, which is available
for free download or to buy in print, and The Right to Research Web site,
which takes the discussion a level deeper and offers tools and guidance for
students to share their work, use Open Access research, take action, and
show their support. The campaign also points to Open Students, a new
independent blog moderated by Gavin Baker.
 
Text for The Right to Research campaign was developed by Gavin Baker and
refined with input from undergraduate and graduate students across the U.S.
For more information, visit the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc.
 
##
 
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. SPARC¹s advocacy, educational and publisher
partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is
on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc/.

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