...[John] Willinsky, who joined the faculty at Stanford in September, was prepared for a heated debate, but instead encountered enthusiasm to move ahead. After a one-hour discussion, the motion was approved unanimously at the retreat attended by most of the 50-member faculty.
“It really does signal a change in people’s understanding, awareness, and sensitivity to the issue because it was such an easy sell,” says Willinsky, a long-time advocate of open access....
Once the Stanford University School of Education faculty approved the policy, it was then sent to the university’s general counsel for review. Willinsky consulted closely with the Harvard Law School to craft the policy, author’s addendum and assemble a packet of supporting documents for the university. The general counsel gave the go ahead for the policy in late June. The repository is now in place and Willinsky is helping work out the details to implement the open access policy.
The move by the School of Education has triggered interest elsewhere on campus. The School of Humanities and Science has expressed an interest in pursuing an open access policy and Willinsky hopes there will be others at Stanford.
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.
