New tools promote wider sharing of research for scholars across disciplines

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For Immediate Release
June 10, 2008

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
SPARC
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 x121

Kara Malenfant
ACRL
kmalenfant@ala.org
(312) 280-2510

New tools promote wider sharing of research for scholars across 
disciplines

Washington, DC & Chicago - June 10, 2008 - The Association of 
College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Association of 
Research Libraries (ARL) and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and 
Academic Resources Coalition) have released a new series of 
bookmarks in the Create Change campaign, which targets scholars 
in different disciplines with messages about the benefits of 
wider research sharing. Librarians can use these freely available 
files to enhance their efforts to engage faculty interest in 
changing the way scholarly information is shared.

The Create Change Web site emphasizes the rapid and irreversible 
changes occurring in the ways faculty share and use academic 
research results. The site outlines how the advancement of 
knowledge is fueled by accelerating and enhancing sharing - of 
journal articles, research data, simulations, syntheses, analyses 
and other findings. Create Change offers faculty practical ways 
to look out for their own interests as researchers and delivers 
the personal perspectives of scholars in 10 different 
disciplines, from music therapy to chemistry to microbiology, on 
the benefits of sharing. New interviews are added regularly.

The first bookmarks highlight comments from four researchers:

* Dr. Linda Hutcheon, Professor of English, University of Toronto
* Dr. David Morrison, Professor of Mathematics, University of
   California, Santa Barbara
* Dr. Carolyn Kenny, Professor of Human Development, Antioch University
* Dr. Gary Ward, Professor of Microbiology, University of Vermont

Comments are drawn from full-length interviews published on the 
Create Change Web site at http://www.createchange.org and target 
the advantages of depositing works in a digital repository, the 
ways communication should change in the digital environment, the 
impact of Open Access and how to maximize scientific progress.

Libraries are invited to print directly from the Web site in the 
easy-to-use letter-size format or to download the bookmarks and 
modify them as needed for their campus. Insert your logo and 
contact information or add examples from your faculty and its 
disciplines.

For more details and to download, visit the Create Change Web 
site at http://www.createchange.org.

##

ACRL

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), 
representing more than 13,000 academic and research librarians 
and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual 
membership organization in North America that develops programs, 
products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and 
research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education 
community to understand the role that academic libraries play in 
the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the 
Web at http://www.acrl.org.

ARL

ARL is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in 
North America. Its mission is to influence the changing 
environment of scholarly communication and the public policies 
that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they 
serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its 
member research libraries, providing leadership in public and 
information policy to the scholarly and higher education 
communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and 
shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with 
those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at 
http://www.arl.org.

SPARC

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), 
with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance 
of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to 
create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's 
advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs 
encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web 
at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

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