RE: DC Principles Coalition Issues Press Release

["Klein, Bonnie CIV DTIC O" <BKlein@DTIC.MIL>]

Heather Morrison is correct that the FRPAA is a mandate for the 
recipients of government support. It directs government funding 
agencies to exercise the government's existing data rights and 
license agreements under the intellectual property clauses in 
contracts and grants (FAR/DFARS/CFR) and under operation of law 
for government works (Title 17 USC Sec 105).

A further comment on the press release statement... "By 
establishing government repositories for federally funded 
research, taxpayers would be paying for systems that duplicate 
the online archives already maintained by independent 
publishers,"

By definition (attributed to Clifford Lynch), a repository is not 
a publisher or an archive.  "A repository is a set of services 
that a scientific/scholarly institution offers for the management 
and dissemination of materials created by that institution and 
its community members. It is most essentially an organizational 
commitment to the stewardship of these materials, including 
long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization 
and access or distribution."

Of the 11 federal agencies with R&D budgets of $100million+, all 
but two already have existing STI repositories and operate as 
national information centers for secondary distribution. These 
collections contain data that is produced by or for their 
agencies funded with government appropriations or provided to the 
government under agreements.  For examples, see www.science.gov 
which only includes a fraction of government STI collectors and 
providers.

Bonnie Klein


-----Original Message-----
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Martin Frank
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:58 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: DC Principles Coalition Issues Press Release

The following press release was posted to the DC Principles website at
http://www.dcprinciples.org/press/2.htm.

*******

Nonprofit Publishers Oppose Government Mandates for Scientific
Publishing

Washington, DC (February 20, 2007) A coalition of 75 nonprofit 
publishers opposes any legislation that would abruptly end a 
publishing system that has nurtured independent scientific 
inquiry for generations. One such measure, the Federal Research 
Public Access Act introduced in the 109th Congress would have 
required all federally funded research to be deposited in an 
accessible database within six months of acceptance in a 
scientific journal.  Some open access advocates are pressing for 
the introduction of a similar measure in the 110th Congress.

In essence, such legislation would impose government-mandated 
access policies and government-controlled repositories for 
federally funded research published in scientific journals, 
according to members of the Washington DC Principles for Free 
Access to Science Coalition.