David Lipman is one of 29 finalists for a 2008 Service to America Medal or "Sammie". The Sammies are presented every year by the non-profit, non-partisan Partnership for Public Service to outstanding employees of the US federal government. The finalists were announced yesterday, and the Sammies will be awarded on September 16, in Washington, D.C.
Comment. Congratulations to David, one of the unsung or insufficiently sung heroes of OA. If time is short, you can catch up on his long career of dedication to OA through this 2003 interview in Open Access Now or this 2007 interview for KRUU FM. If time is not short, see my many past posts about him and his work.
..."Perhaps the greatest testament to the value of this resource is the phenomenal amount of traffic it has attracted," according to the Partnership for Public Service profile of Dr. Lipman. "Each day, users retrieve about 650,000 articles, making it one of the most important sites in the world for finding quality biomedical information. Dr. Lipman has allowed scientists, physicians, patients, advocates, students, teachers, journalists and others to access information that affects their lives and work. This work has enhanced collaboration and, as a result, is revolutionizing scientific research and speeding the translation of existing knowledge into new breakthroughs."
Proponents of free public access to NIH-funded research findings hailed the selection of Dr. Lipman. "The Award Committee's recognition of Dr. Lipman is a potent reminder of the high value the American public places in being able to access and use the product of their collective investment in research," said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and administrator of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. "Dr. Lipman, the PubMed Central team, and the NIH have made a critical contribution to advancing the public good with the creation of PubMed Central."
Sharon Terry, President and CEO of Genetic Alliance, adds, "Dr. Lipman is a visionary leader in the age of networked information. He was way out ahead in developing PubMed Central. His contribution is a living resource of public information that catalyzes the research and services needed to save lives." ...
The finalists for the 2008 Service to America Medals were chosen from nearly 500 nominations recognizing work at two-dozen federal agencies....
Update (6/23/08). Also see Megan Scudellari's story in The Scientist. Excerpt:
..."I think it's a recognition of the value of PubMed Central," David Lipman, who launched PubMed in 2000, told The Scientist. "For that, I'm really thrilled." ...
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/19/2008 12:41:00 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.
