The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, with significant help from the worldwide library community, is nearing its goal of raising a $4,125,000 endowment for the SEP. Stanford has helped to raise $1,125,000 in private donations, and its library partners (SPARC, ICOLC, SOLINET, and others), representing the worldwide library community, have agreed to help raise $3,000,000 in institutional memberships. The resulting protected endowment will generate enough in appreciation and interest income to cover the SEP's expenses in perpetuity. Accordingly, the SEP is rapidly approaching its goals:
Individual Fundraising: Stanford has nearly reached its goal with some large donations from donors outside academia who have backgrounds in philosophy, as well as contributions from many professional philosophers.
Library Fundraising: The libraries have made substantial progress, collectively contributing $1,505,455 in pledges. Counting the $500,000 in NEH matching funds, the libraries have commitments totaling $2,005,455.
We Still Need Your Help
When we began this journey, many librarians were skeptical of this innovative approach to open access. Given that we are ? of the way to achieving the goal of perpetual open access to this philosophical reference work, we do not expect to go away anytime soon. However, the SEP still needs $1,000,000 in new commitments from the library community to reach its goal. Of the 120 libraries at institutions with Philosophy Ph.D. programs in the U.S. and Canada, 49 have committed the full amount requested ($15,000) to support the SEP and 18 have made a partial commitment. For the many libraries that have pledged their support, we thank you! For those that have not, we would appreciate your help to preserve open access to a resource that is used at universities just like yours across the globe hundreds of thousands times each week.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/13/2007 01:40:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
