Friends: Here is a message I received from SPARC-ARL. Please read and act. Scientists, students, librarians and all those who are interested in widespread dissemination of knowledge in India and other developing countries should lend their support to this movement.   The Obama Administration is actively considering taking action to open up the results of research funded by taxpayer dollars, by making scientific articles freely available online.   A petition (wh.gov/6TH) calling for Public Access to all Federally Funded Research has been posted to the White House "We the People" website. If the petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action.    We’re halfway there – more than 12,500 people have signed the petition since it was posted just two and half days ago! Researchers, patients groups, universities, libraries, students, businesses and families have all thrown their support behind this simple yet powerful idea – to make taxpayer-funded research freely accessible to the public. Learn more about why by watching this one-minute video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FoYxzPZDuw).   Sign the petition (wh.gov/6TH) today, and encourage your colleagues, friends and family to do the same. You are eligible to sign if you are at least 13 years old, and have a valid email address. That’s all.   Signing is easy, it’s fast, and it can have an enormous impact on our chances of expanding access to the results of scientific research that we have helped to fund. So take some time today to not only sign onto the petition, but to spread the word far and wide. Consider a blog post, an email to constituencies, a tweet (use #openaccess), a Facebook share, an action in your library or on your campus - anything that tells as many people as possible "I support this petition, I'm signing this petition, and you should, too."     Thanks in advance for your support for this effort - it is truly a critical time, and taking this action now *can* make a difference!   Best, Andrea --  Andrea Brusca Higginbotham Communications Manager, SPARC 21 Dupont Circle, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 296-2296 ext 121 andrea@arl.org www.arl.org/sparc Open Access Week 2012 October 22-28 http://www.openaccessweek.org/ NEW! SPARC Daily: http://paper.li/SPARC_NA/1334596809 _______________________________________________ GOAL mailing list GOAL@eprints.org http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.