Council of Library Deans supports goals of historic state legislation

(Updated) The 23 libraries of the California State University system are committed to providing all students and faculty equitable access to quality research and information.

California is the first state to pass legislation to ensure that publicly funded research is made available to the public. California Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Legislation (A.B. 609) was signed into law on September 29, 2014, by Governor Jerry Brown. This new law requires public access to research funded by the California Department of Public Health within 12 months of initial publication. This way, doctors, patients, researchers, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and others can benefit from the research.

Mark Stover, dean of the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge, is enthusiastic about this legislation. “Research that is funded by the government should not be held behind a paywall that is erected by commercial publishers and scientific organizations. The state of California should not pay twice for research. Instead, this research, when published in peer reviewed journals, should be made available free of charge to the general public, but particularly to students and faculty in state institutions like the CSU. A.B. 609 is one small but important step in this direction.”

Supporting open access requirements

The libraries of the California State University actively support the goals of this historic legislation by providing CSU scholars with services that support the open access requirements of state, federal, and other research funding agencies.

For example, seventeen of the CSU’s 23 libraries provide digital archives for faculty and student scholarly works; many of these archives are powered by CSU’s ScholarWorks service, hosted by the Chancellor’s Office.

Librarians with expertise in scholarly publishing also support open access by consulting with campus faculty on their publishing choices. Faculty can enhance the impact of their research by publishing in peer-reviewed open access journals.

Resolution on the passage of A.B. 609

In addition to providing services to support open access, the Council of Library Deans passed a resolution to support A.B. 609 on October 22, 2014:

Whereas: The libraries of the California State University (CSU) are committed to providing equitable access to quality research and information, for all students and faculty of the CSU, at all 23 CSU campuses;

Whereas: A.B. 609, “California Taxpayer Access to Publicly Funded Research Legislation,” signed into law on September 29, 2014 by Governor Jerry Brown, requires that public access be provided to research funded by the California Department of Public Health, within 12 months of initial publication;

Whereas: The state of California is the first state to pass legislation to ensure than research funded by the public is made available to doctors, patients, researchers, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and other individuals who can benefit from access to the results of research;

Whereas: Support for A.B. 609 was bipartisan and included the University of California and many influential California voices in education, research, the technology industry, and public policy organizations;

Therefore be it resolved: The Council of Library Deans (COLD) of the California State University supports the goal of this historic legislation, to expand public access to research funded by the state of California.

Just in time for Open Access Week

“California’s landmark legislation and our resolution are just in time as we celebrate Open Access Week 2014 from October 20-26,” said Anna Gold, chair of the Council of Library Deans. “Open Access, together with Affordable Learning Solutions, makes current research and knowledge accessible to all our citizens and students.”

Support for A.B. 609 was bipartisan, and included the University of California and many influential California voices in education, research, the technology industry, and public policy organizations.

Read the press release at Cal Poly News.

CSU Libraries Digital Scholarship Archives