[mla-nynj] URGENT: Oppose amendments to strike the NIH Public Access provision in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill

[Michelle Brewer]

Apologies for delay in message, and cross-posting. Both Mahnaz and I are
having problems with listserv postings.
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Please call or fax letters to your Senators before noon Monday (October
22) or at the very latest, Tuesday October 23 -- asking that they vote
NO on both amendments.  RE: Amendments #3416 and #3417, introduced by
Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) to the FY'08 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill.


Fax numbers for members of the Senate are available at
http://www.capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=10301446. The Capitol
switchboard number is 202-224-3121. 

Key Points:

* Oppose the amendments which would strike the NIH Public Access
provision in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. 

* Support language in the FY'08 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill
to require NIH grantees to deposit in PubMed Central final peer-reviewed
manuscripts no later than 12 months following publication in a
peer-reviewed journal.

* This change in policy, that it be a requirement to deposit federally
funded research at the NIH, has the full support of the NIH Director, as
well as broad bipartisan support in Congress. AAU has also endorsed this
change in policy.

* Public access to federally funded research speeds the pace of
discovery by expanding access to research findings  something the
voluntary policy has failed to do.

* Enhanced public access also significantly improves NIH's
accountability both internally and with Congress by making it much
simpler to track NIH investments and corresponding results.

* With a deposit rate of less than 5%, the NIH's current voluntary
policy has failed to achieve the policy's stated goals since its
implementation in 2005. A mandate to deposit federally funded research
is needed to ensure compliance and to achieve NIH's mission driven
polices -- supporting accountability, archiving federally funded
research and enhancing public access.

Thank you for any help that you can give on this very important issue.

Sincerely,

Medical Library Association
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The U.S. Senate is considering the fiscal year (FY) 2008
Labor-HHS-Education (LHHS) bill, which includes several very important
library service-related funding provisions. One important provision
directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to implement a mandatory
policy ensuring the free, timely access to all research articles
stemming from NIH funded research via NIH's PubMed Central online
archive. ALA, the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) and
other library groups have strongly supported this proposal.

Please contact your Senators as soon as possible (preferably before noon
on October 22) to gain their support during a critical vote on Monday,
October 22. As part of this appropriations debate, sometime starting on
Monday afternoon, the Senate will take up two amendments, #3416 and
#3417, authored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) that would strike the
provision in the LHHS appropriations bill directing the NIH to make its
research reports available to the public.

A mandatory policy is the only way to ensure that taxpayers recoup their
investment in NIH-funded research. Taxpayer-funded NIH research belongs
to the American public. They have paid for it and it is for their
benefit. These reports are a critical and unique source of medical
information. A sample email is provided for you to personalize and
explain why public access to these important NIH materials is important
to your institution and your library users.

It is critical that these Inhofe amendments do not pass. We must
demonstrate to supporters in the Senate the depth and breadth of our
commitment to successful public access to NIH research. If you have
written in support before, please do so again. ALA, ACRL, the
Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and other organizations have been
working with the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. Jennifer McLennan
(contact: jennifer at arl.org or by fax at (202) 872-0884) is coordinating
the grassroots efforts on these issues and would appreciate feedback as
you proceed to contact your Senators.

Source:
ALAWON
Volume 16, Number 093
October 20, 2007 

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Co-Chairs, Government Relations Committee, NY-NJ Chapter/MLA
Michelle M. Volesko Brewer , New Jersey Hospital Association,
mbrewer at njha.com 
Mahnaz Tehrani, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine,
mtehrani at nyit.edu