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Library associations back open access
by Subbiah Arunachalam 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Eight major North American Library Associations representing a vast majority of American and Canadian librarians are supporting open access. When will the Indian librarians lend their support to open access? When will they persuade the government - UGC, DST, DBT, CSIR, and other funding agencies and apex bodies - to mandate open access self-archiving of all publicly funded research? Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ---------------------------------- From Peter Suber's blog Library groups support FRPAA Eight major North American library associations have released their July 12 letter to Sen. Susan Collins in support of FRPAA. The letter will soon be online here and here. Meantime I'm quoting from a copy that John Ober sent as an attachment to the ScholComm list. Excerpt: We write in strong support of the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S. 2695)....S. 2695 would promote widespread, affordable, and effective dissemination of scientific and scholarly research results. For this reason, we encourage the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to conduct hearings on S. 2695. Federally funded research is a public resource collected at public expense. Importantly, increased access to this research accelerates the pace of discovery and innovation and fosters economic growth. It is critical that this new research be readily available to physicians, researchers, and members of the public, including those who are unaffiliated with or working in locations remote from libraries that subscribe to in increasingly expensive journals and databases developed from federally funded research. Indeed, results of a recent Harris Interactive poll show that the majority of U.S. adults believe that federally funded research findings should be available for free to doctors and the general public.... [T]he Internet offers an unprecedented and cost-effective means to accelerate scientific advancement. S. 2695 recognizes this potential and helps to facilitate its realization. Its key beneficiaries include: a.. Scientists and scholars, whose research will be more broadly read and who will have fewer barriers to obtaining the research they need. b.. Funders, who will gain from accelerated discovery, facilitation of interdisciplinary research methodologies, preservation of vital research findings, and an improved capacity to manage their research portfolios. c.. Taxpayers, who will obtain economic and social benefits from the leveraging of their investment in scientific research through effects such as enhanced technology transfer, broader application of research to health care provision, and more informed policy development.... This legislation is not a threat to journals and the peer review process. The Federal Research Public Access Act contains two key provisions that protect journals and the peer review process: a.. A delay of up to six months in providing access to articles via the public archive (versus immediate access for journal readers). b.. Inclusion in the public archive of the author's final manuscript rather than the publisher's formatted, paginated version preferred for citation purposes. In some disciplines, freely accessible online archives have proven to supplement journal readership, not replace it. In physics, for example.... If Congress were to pass S. 2695, the most significant day-to-day effect on investigators would be improved access to research and increased impact for their own work. A growing number of studies demonstrate that research is cited more often when it is openly accessible on the Web. The process by which investigators deposit their work is expected to be relatively simple. NIH, for example, estimates that submitting a manuscript to their archive usually takes an investigator just 3-10 minutes. This legislation will not take funding away from research to any material extent. The NIH, for example, estimates that the cost of its public access program would be $3.5 million if 100% of the 65,000 eligible manuscripts were deposited annually. That is a tiny fraction (about 0.01%) of the agency's $28 billion budget. It is also a small fraction of the $30 million per year the agency spends on page charges and other subsidies to subscription-based journals.... The organizations signing the letter are the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL), Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Medical Library Association (MLA), and the Special Libraries Association (SLA), and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). Eight major North American Library Associations representing a vast majority of American and Canadian librarians are supporting open access. When will the Indian librarians lend their support to open access? When will they persuade the government - UGC, DST, DBT, CSIR, and other funding agencies and apex bodies - to mandate open access self-archiving of all publicly funded research? Best wishes. Arun [Subbiah Arunachalam] ---------------------------------- From Peter Suber's blog Library groups support FRPAA Eight major North American library associations have released their July 12 letter to Sen. Susan Collins in support of http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02695: FRPAA . The letter will soon be online http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/action.htm here and http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/washingtonwatch/washingtonwatch.htm#… here . Meantime I'm quoting from a copy that John Ober sent as an attachment to the http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/scholarlycomm/scholcommdiscussion.htm ScholComm list. Excerpt: We write in strong support of the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (S. 2695)....S. 2695 would promote widespread, affordable, and effective dissemination of scientific and scholarly research results. For this reason, we encourage the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs to conduct hearings on S. 2695. Federally funded research is a public resource collected at public expense. Importantly, increased access to this research accelerates the pace of discovery and innovation and fosters economic growth. It is critical that this new research be readily available to physicians, researchers, and members of the public, including those who are unaffiliated with or working in locations remote from libraries that subscribe to in increasingly expensive journals and databases developed from federally funded research. Indeed, results of a recent Harris Interactive poll show that the majority of U.S. adults believe that federally funded research findings should be available for free to doctors and the general public.... [T]he Internet offers an unprecedented and cost-effective means to accelerate scientific advancement. S. 2695 recognizes this potential and helps to facilitate its realization. Its key beneficiaries include: Scientists and scholars, whose research will be more broadly read and who will have fewer barriers to obtaining the research they need. Funders, who will gain from accelerated discovery, facilitation of interdisciplinary research methodologies, preservation of vital research findings, and an improved capacity to manage their research portfolios. Taxpayers, who will obtain economic and social benefits from the leveraging of their investment in scientific research through effects such as enhanced technology transfer, broader application of research to health care provision, and more informed policy development.... This legislation is not a threat to journals and the peer review process. The Federal Research Public Access Act contains two key provisions that protect journals and the peer review process: A delay of up to six months in providing access to articles via the public archive (versus immediate access for journal readers). Inclusion in the public archive of the authors final manuscript rather than the publishers formatted, paginated version preferred for citation purposes. In some disciplines, freely accessible online archives have proven to supplement journal readership, not replace it. In physics, for example.... If Congress were to pass S. 2695, the most significant day-to-day effect on investigators would be improved access to research and increased impact for their own work. A growing number of studies demonstrate that research is cited more often when it is openly accessible on the Web. The process by which investigators deposit their work is expected to be relatively simple. NIH, for example, estimates that submitting a manuscript to their archive usually takes an investigator just 310 minutes. This legislation will not take funding away from research to any material extent. The NIH, for example, estimates that the cost of its public access program would be $3.5 million if 100% of the 65,000 eligible manuscripts were deposited annually. That is a tiny fraction (about 0.01%) of the agency's $28 billion budget. It is also a small fraction of the $30 million per year the agency spends on page charges and other subsidies to subscription-based journals.... The organizations signing the letter are the American Association of Law Libraries ( http://www.aallnet.org/ AALL ), American Library Association ( http://www.ala.org/ ALA ), Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries ( http://www.aahsl.org/ AAHSL ), Association of College & Research Libraries ( http://www.ala.org/acrl/ ACRL ), Association of Research Libraries ( http://www.arl.org/ ARL ), Medical Library Association ( http://www.mlanet.org/ MLA ), and the Special Libraries Association ( http://www.sla.org/ SLA ), and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition ( http://www.arl.org/sparc/ SPARC ).

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Congrats to Stevan harnad
by Subbiah Arunachalam 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

Friends: Stevan Harnad has won an award for the best poem in English in a competition (for poems on science and technology) held at the recently held Euroscience Oen Forum, Munich. Here is the poem. Publish or Perish As Science is mere structured common sense (http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm) her means but trial-and-error made intense, the only virtue setting her apart, and raising her above (some think) mere Art, Is her convergence ever on consensus: collective, self-corrective her defenses. A flagellant, she boldly does defy Reality her schemes to falsify. And yet this noble jousting were in vain, and all this pain would yield no grain of gain if Science were content, a shrinking violet, her works from all the world 'ere to keep private. Instead, performance public and artistic, restraining all propensities autistic, perhaps less out of error-making dread, than banal need to earn her daily bread. For showbiz being what it is today, work's not enough, you've got to make it pay. What ratings, sweeps and polls count for our actors, no less than our elected benefactors, for Science the commensurate equation is not just publication but citation. The more your work is accessed, read and used, the higher then is reckoned its just dues. Sounds crass, but there may be some consolation, where there's still some residual motivation to make a difference, not just make a fee (http://openaccess.eprints.org/) the World Wide Web at last can make Science free. Stevan donated the 300 Euro he won to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access in the US so that, in his words "in a small way Euroscience (thanks to the Andrea von Braun Foundation) can lend a hand to promoting the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) in the United States. Subbiah Arunachalam Friends: Stevan Harnad has won an award for the best poem in English in a competition (for poems on science and technology) held at the recently held Euroscience Oen Forum, Munich. Here is the poem. Publish or Perish As Science is mere structured common sense ( http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAA38.htm ), her means but trial-and-error made intense, the only virtue setting her apart, and raising her above (some think) mere Art, Is her convergence ever on consensus: collective, self-corrective her defenses. A flagellant, she boldly does defy Reality her schemes to falsify. And yet this noble jousting were in vain, and all this pain would yield no grain of gain if Science were content, a shrinking violet, her works from all the world 'ere to keep private. Instead, performance public and artistic, restraining all propensities autistic, perhaps less out of error-making dread, than banal need to earn her daily bread. For showbiz being what it is today, work's not enough, you've got to make it pay. What ratings, sweeps and polls count for our actors, no less than our elected benefactors, for Science the commensurate equation is not just publication but citation. The more your work is accessed, read and used, the higher then is reckoned its just dues. Sounds crass, but there may be some consolation, where there's still some residual motivation to make a difference, not just make a fee ( http://openaccess.eprints.org/ http://openaccess.eprints.org/ ): the World Wide Web at last can make Science free. Stevan donated the 300 Euro he won to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access in the US so that, in his words "in a small way Euroscience (thanks to the Andrea von Braun Foundation) can lend a hand to promoting the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) in the United States. Subbiah Arunachalam

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Fwd: IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available!
by Bhojaraju G 22 Jul '06

22 Jul '06

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Karen Muller <kmuller(a)ala.org> Date: Jul 18, 2006 10:57 PM Subject: [KMDG-L] IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available! Colleagues-- The latest copy of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter, Issue no. 2, July 2006, is now available in PDF format from the IFLA website at the following location: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf For more information about the work of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section, please visit the IFLA website: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm Please accept my apologies for the cross-posting of this message. -- Karen Muller, MLS Librarian and Knowledge Management Specialist American Library Association 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 USA kmuller(a)ala.org Toll free: 1-800-545-2433 x 5031 Direct: 312-280-5031 Fax: 312-280-3255 http://www.ala.org/library A "Gathering at the Waters" Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) October 11-15, 2006 in Dallas, TX. www.ala.org/jclc Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** Cognizant Technology Solutions | Techno Complex | 5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road | Okkiyam | Thoraipakkam | Chennai – 600 096. Tel: +91 44 4209 6000 X: 8270 | VNET: 448279 | www.cognizant.com *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Karen Muller < mailto:kmuller@ala.org kmuller(a)ala.org > Date: Jul 18, 2006 10:57 PM Subject: [KMDG-L] IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter now available! Colleagues-- The latest copy of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section newsletter, Issue no. 2, July 2006, is now available in PDF format from the IFLA website at the following location: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/pub/KM-Newsletter2.pdf For more information about the work of the IFLA Knowledge Management Section, please visit the IFLA website: http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm http://www.ifla.org/VII/s47/index.htm Please accept my apologies for the cross-posting of this message. -- Karen Muller, MLS Librarian and Knowledge Management Specialist American Library Association 50 East Huron Street Chicago, IL 60611 USA mailto:kmuller@ala.org kmuller(a)ala.org Toll free: 1-800-545-2433 x 5031 Direct: 312-280-5031 Fax: 312-280-3255 http://www.ala.org/library http://www.ala.org/library A "Gathering at the Waters" Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) October 11-15, 2006 in Dallas, TX. http://www.ala.org/jclc www.ala.org/jclc Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** Cognizant Technology Solutions | Techno Complex | 5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road | Okkiyam | Thoraipakkam | Chennai – 600 096. Tel: +91 44 4209 6000 X: 8270 | VNET: 448279 | http://www.cognizant.com www.cognizant.com *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug

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Publications
by SRELS 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Dear Moderator : Kindly arrange to announce the publication of the following books by the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science for the benefit of Lis-Forum Members. Yours sincerely, K.N. Prasad Executive Officer Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science 702, 42nd Cross, III Block, Rajajianagar, Bangalore 560 054 1.. Natural Language Processing : An Information Access perspective by Dr. Kavi Narayana Murthy (xiv+371,HB; ISBN: 81-7000-485-3; Rs.850/-) This is an introductory book on Natural Language Processing, also known as Computational Linguistics and Language Engineering. This is a highly multi-disciplinary field, borrowing as it does, from such varied disciplines as Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence. Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Engineering. This book is aimed at beginners in any of the related subjects. The book is written in simple, easy-reading, almost conversational style. No background is assumed. It is hoped that this book will be useful for all those interested in human language computing. The book covers foundations of natural language processing as also applications such as Information Retrieval, Information Extraction, Text Categorization, Automatic Summarization and Machine Translation. Linguistic as well as statistical view points are included. Examples and illustrations are drawn from Indian Languages. Current state and future directions are indicated. There is enough material in the book to be used as a text book for a first course on the topic within library and information sciences, linguistics, computer science, artificial intelligence and other related disciplines. Parts of the book should also be useful for more advanced courses. 2.. Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques Revised Edition by Prof. Madan Mohan Kashyap (xiii+521, HB; ISBN : 81-7000-484-5; Rs. 1175.00) The Purpose of this book - Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques (Revised Edition) is to give accounts of systems theory to help one to understand the process of systems analysis and design as well as design better information technology based systems in libraries: to describe the methodology for conducting systems study and to explain the use and application of systems analysis and design tools and techniques. This book is written, keeping in mind the practicising librarians who are faced with the responsibility of evaluating library programs and procedures to identify the problem areas, that is, the situations where there are gaps or deviations between what is expected, what could or should be and find means to bridge the gaps. The second audience to whom this book is addressed is the library and information science students who may join a course in Computer Application in Libraries. Library Systems Analysis and Design or Library Systems Study and re-engineering Technique and Library Database Design and Development Approach. For Copies, please contact : Ess Ess Publications 4837/24, Ansari Road Darya ganj NEW DELHI 110 002 tEL: 011) 23260807 ; Fax : (011) 23274173 E-mail : info2essessreference.com url: http://www.essessreference.com Dear Moderator : Kindly arrange to announce the publication of the following books by the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science for the benefit of Lis-Forum Members. Yours sincerely, K.N. Prasad Executive Officer Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library Science 702, 42 nd Cross, III Block, Rajajianagar, Bangalore 560 054 Natural Language Processing : An Information Access perspective by Dr. Kavi Narayana Murthy (xiv+371,HB; ISBN: 81-7000-485-3; Rs.850/-) This is an introductory book on Natural Language Processing, also known as Computational Linguistics and Language Engineering. This is a highly multi-disciplinary field, borrowing as it does, from such varied disciplines as Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence. Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics and Engineering. This book is aimed at beginners in any of the related subjects. The book is written in simple, easy-reading, almost conversational style. No background is assumed. It is hoped that this book will be useful for all those interested in human language computing. The book covers foundations of natural language processing as also applications such as Information Retrieval, Information Extraction, Text Categorization, Automatic Summarization and Machine Translation. Linguistic as well as statistical view points are included. Examples and illustrations are drawn from Indian Languages. Current state and future directions are indicated. There is enough material in the book to be used as a text book for a first course on the topic within library and information sciences, linguistics, computer science, artificial intelligence and other related disciplines. Parts of the book should also be useful for more advanced courses. Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques Revised Edition by Prof. Madan Mohan Kashyap (xiii+521, HB; ISBN : 81-7000-484-5; Rs. 1175.00) The Purpose of this book Computer Based Library Information Systems Designing Techniques (Revised Edition) is to give accounts of systems theory to help one to understand the process of systems analysis and design as well as design better information technology based systems in libraries: to describe the methodology for conducting systems study and to explain the use and application of systems analysis and design tools and techniques. This book is written, keeping in mind the practicising librarians who are faced with the responsibility of evaluating library programs and procedures to identify the problem areas, that is, the situations where there are gaps or deviations between what is expected, what could or should be and find means to bridge the gaps. The second audience to whom this book is addressed is the library and information science students who may join a course in Computer Application in Libraries. Library Systems Analysis and Design or Library Systems Study and re-engineering Technique and Library Database Design and Development Approach. For Copies, please contact : Ess Ess Publications 4837/24, Ansari Road Darya ganj NEW DELHI 110 002 tEL: 011) 23260807 ; Fax : (011) 23274173 E-mail : info2essessreference.com url: http://www.essessreference.com http://www.essessreference.com

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ALA 2006 and Google
by Sukhdev Singh 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Some of you would like to know How Google is interested in libraries and librarians? They had just participated in American Library Association's annual conference in New Orleans. Check out some of the Movies at http://www.google.com/librariancenter/librarian_movies.html and well as at Google Video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-894250368419059367&hl=en Enjoy Sukhdev Singh, NIC. http://openmed.nic.in

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Open access to research papers gets a boost - The Hindu
by Sanjo Jose 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Please have a look on The Hindu about "Open access to research papers gets a boost" at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000031400.htm Also have info on Blu-ray media in "Hands-on with high definition". at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000041400.htm\ Sanjo Jose --------------------------------- Find out what India is talking about on Yahoo! Answers India. http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000031400.htm Also have info on Blu-ray media in "Hands-on with high definition". at http://www.hindu.com/seta/2006/07/20/stories/2006072000041400.htm\ Sanjo Jose Find out what India is talking about on http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail/in/mailanswersshare/*http://in.answers.yahoo.co… Yahoo! Answers India.

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Fwd: World Online Book Fair
by Bhojaraju G 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Dear All, Good news for book lovers. World's first Online Book Fair has started on 4 th July 06. This book fair will be for a month. E-books will be available for free access / download. Do not miss this opportunity! *http://worldebookfair.com/ * <http://worldebookfair.com/ > One can download the books from this site till Aug 4th, 2006. The World eBook Library Consortia Collection shelves more than 330,000 PDF eBooks in 100+ languages contained in 112 of the finest eBook and eDocument collections published on the Internet today. All the collections: http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm Technical E-Books: *http://worldebookfair.com/Technical_eBook_Colleciton.htm *<https://xnet.infosys.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://worldebookfair.co…> . Enjoy Reading.......... Thanks and Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead ******************************************************************************************* KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug Skype Me: bhojarajug Dear All, Good news for book lovers. World's first Online Book Fair has started on 4 th July 06. This book fair will be for a month. E-books will be available for free access / download. Do not miss this opportunity ! http://worldebookfair.com/ http://worldebookfair.com/ One can download the books from this site till Aug 4 th , 2006. The World eBook Library Consortia Collection shelves more than 330,000 PDF eBooks in 100+ languages contained in 112 of the finest eBook and eDocument collections published on the Internet today. All the collections: http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm Technical E-Books : https://xnet.infosys.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://worldebookfair.co… http://worldebookfair.com/Technical_eBook_Colleciton.htm . Enjoy Reading.......... Thanks and Regards Bhojaraju G Knowledge Management-Lead ******************************************************************************************* KM Cyberary: http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html http://www.bhojarajug.freeservers.com/cyberary.html KM-Forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KM-Forum/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhojarajug Skype Me: bhojarajug

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InfoNation: Choose a Career in Libraries
by Mailing List Manager 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:01:44 +0530 From: "Thapar, Amit" <amitt(a)niper.ac.in> http://www.cla.ca/infonation/welcome.htm Here's how the Canadians are recruiting people for the profession. Along with job descriptions and the skills for success, it offers real librarians ("trust us, you can't make this stuff up") talking about their work life, and a sampling of librarian blogs so people can see what issues librarians are talking about online. amit@urservice Cell: 9855701060 e-mail: amit_thapar(a)yahoo.com

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Prof. C N R Rao on the status of science in India (fwd)
by Mailing List Manager 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 07:07:18 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun(a)mssrf.res.in> >From The Indian Express, New Delhi. [Prof. C N R Rao is the President of TWAS, a Fellow of the Royal society and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. He is the Chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.] 'The best of us in government consider science as a budget item, possibly a non-productive expenditure' [Posted online: Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 0000 hrs] The past few months have seen science and technology, in various forms and at various levels, under threat from government action and policy. It prompted a letter from Prof CNR Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, to Manmohan Singh expressing his concerns on the situation and suggestions for improvement. We publish extracts from the letter: For full story, visit http://www.indianexpress.com/story/8817.html

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Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants
by Subbiah Arunachalam 21 Jul '06

21 Jul '06

Friends: Bill Gates supports open access once again! But details are awaited. Arun ------ From Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News" Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants >From yesterday's press release from the Gates Foundation on a new funding program for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Five central facilities will be established, including three laboratory networks for measuring the immune responses elicited by vaccine candidates, a research specimen repository, and a data and statistical management center. As a condition for receiving funding, the newly-funded vaccine discovery consortia have agreed to use the central facilities to test vaccine candidates, share information with other investigators, and compare results using standardized benchmarks....In addition, the grantees are developing global access plans to help ensure that their discoveries will be accessible and affordable for developing countries, where the vast majority of new HIV infections occur. Also see Marilyn Chase, Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data, Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2006 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: Frustrated that over two decades of research have failed to produce an AIDS vaccine, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is tying his foundation's latest, biggest AIDS-vaccine grants to a radical concept: Those who get the money must first agree to share the results of their work in short order.... So far, attempts to come up with a vaccine that produces protective antibodies to block infection by the wily and shape-shifting AIDS virus have been a "miserable failure," says Nick Hellmann, interim director of HIV projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Mr. Gates's family foundation is putting $287 million new, five-year grants behind the notion that pooling results can surmount the massive technical hurdles that have hindered individual, sometimes-competing efforts....Through such data sharing, Dr. Hellmann says, rival teams can build on successes, avoid pitfalls and eliminate redundancy. Even so, he says that a vaccine is "at least 10 years away."... Grant recipients and outside observers were unsure whether data-sharing requirements of the grants could pose potential legal or patent conflicts with Mr. Gates's vow to respect intellectual property. Foundation officials said this week researchers would still be free to commercialize their discoveries, but they must develop access plans for people in the developing world. The foundation declined to make its attorney available to address these concerns.... Enforced data sharing, Dr. [Steve] Self predicted, "increases the pace of discovery enormously rather than waiting for the process of writing formal journal articles, waiting for them to be published, and [confirmed] by other labs."... Peter Suber's Comment. Kudos to the Gates Foundation. This is a big step forward, recognizing the truth that OA accelerates research and applying the principle that the more knowledge matters, the more OA to that knowledge matters. I have some questions about the program, but I expect that answers will emerge shortly. It's pretty clear that the Gates Foundation will host its own OA repository and require grantees to deposit their data in it. It appears that the requirement will apply only to data, not to articles published in peer-reviewed journals. I'd welcome clarification on that. I can't tell what steps the foundation will take, if any, to insure data interoperability. I can't tell whether the free online access will be universal, limited to developing countries, or some of each for different kinds of information. I'll blog more as I learn more. Friends: Bill Gates supports open access once again! But details are awaited. Arun ------ From Peter Suber's blog "Open Access News" Bill Gates puts an OA condition on AIDS research grants >From yesterday's http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/Pri_Diseases/HIVAIDS/Announceme… press release from the http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ Gates Foundation on a new funding program for an HIV/AIDS vaccine. Five central facilities will be established, including three laboratory networks for measuring the immune responses elicited by vaccine candidates, a research specimen repository, and a data and statistical management center. As a condition for receiving funding, the newly-funded vaccine discovery consortia have agreed to use the central facilities to test vaccine candidates, share information with other investigators, and compare results using standardized benchmarks....In addition, the grantees are developing global access plans to help ensure that their discoveries will be accessible and affordable for developing countries, where the vast majority of new HIV infections occur. Also see Marilyn Chase, http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Fa… Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data , Wall Street Journal , July 20, 2006 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: Frustrated that over two decades of research have failed to produce an AIDS vaccine, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates is tying his foundation's latest, biggest AIDS-vaccine grants to a radical concept: Those who get the money must first agree to share the results of their work in short order.... So far, attempts to come up with a vaccine that produces protective antibodies to block infection by the wily and shape-shifting AIDS virus have been a "miserable failure," says Nick Hellmann, interim director of HIV projects at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Now, Mr. Gates's family foundation is putting $287 million new, five-year grants behind the notion that pooling results can surmount the massive technical hurdles that have hindered individual, sometimes-competing efforts....Through such data sharing, Dr. Hellmann says, rival teams can build on successes, avoid pitfalls and eliminate redundancy. Even so, he says that a vaccine is "at least 10 years away."... Grant recipients and outside observers were unsure whether data-sharing requirements of the grants could pose potential legal or patent conflicts with Mr. Gates's vow to respect intellectual property. Foundation officials said this week researchers would still be free to commercialize their discoveries, but they must develop access plans for people in the developing world. The foundation declined to make its attorney available to address these concerns.... Enforced data sharing, Dr. [Steve] Self predicted, "increases the pace of discovery enormously rather than waiting for the process of writing formal journal articles, waiting for them to be published, and [confirmed] by other labs."... Peter Suber's Comment . Kudos to the Gates Foundation. This is a big step forward, recognizing the truth that OA accelerates research and applying the principle that the more knowledge matters, the more OA to that knowledge matters . I have some questions about the program, but I expect that answers will emerge shortly. It's pretty clear that the Gates Foundation will host its own OA repository and require grantees to deposit their data in it. It appears that the requirement will apply only to data, not to articles published in peer-reviewed journals. I'd welcome clarification on that. I can't tell what steps the foundation will take, if any, to insure data interoperability. I can't tell whether the free online access will be universal, limited to developing countries, or some of each for different kinds of information. I'll blog more as I learn more.

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