Webcast inviation: SCOAP3, opportunity for change?

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

SCOAP3 -- An opportunity to create change
A Web cast from SPARC and ACRL
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
9AM Pacific | 11AM Central | 12PM Eastern (90 minutes)
Registration is free. RSVP by June 9 at 
http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/event_registration.shtml

In follow up to the recent release of a new set of Frequently 
Asked  Questions on the SCOAP3 initiative, SPARC and ACRL are 
pleased to host  Dr. Salvatore Mele, Head of Open Access at CERN 
and spokesperson for  SCOAP3, at a live Web cast to explore the 
process of committing to the  consortium, establishing its 
governing board, the project's conditions  for the call for 
tender, and to answer remaining questions. Please  join us.

SCOAP3, the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access in Particle 
Physics  Publishing, currently depends on expressions of interest 
from the U.S.  library community before the experiment can move 
ahead. The proposal  is currently supported by more than 130 U.S. 
libraries, by the  Canadian Research Knowledge Network, and by 
libraries, consortia and  funding agencies in 18 other countries.

SCOAP3 has a unique potential to transform scholarly 
communication.  The initiative aims to convert the literature of 
an entire field to  Open Access by re-directing current 
expenditures in journal  subscriptions. It has so far collected 
pledges for a total of 8.8  Million $/year from partners in 21 
countries, corresponding to 63% of  its worldwide budget 
envelope.

In the U.S., a growing number of leading libraries and library 
consortia have already signed an Expression of Interest pledging 
to re- direct their current expenditures in High-Energy Physics 
journals to  the SCOAP3 initiative, if successful. These pledges 
total 2.5 Million  $/year. About 1 Million $/year are still 
needed to complete the  expected U.S. contribution and enable the 
initiative to move forward.

Please join us for this special event to learn more about how 
your  library can help change the model for scholarly publishing 
in High  Energy Physics.

Register by June 9 at 
http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/event_registration.shtml

For more information, see:

-- The SPARC-ACRL FAQs at 
http://www.arl.org/sparc/publications/papers/scoap3_09april.shtml
-- The SCOAP3 web page at http://scoap3.org and
-- The SCOAP3 expression of interest for U.S. libraries at 
http://tinyurl.com/scoap3us

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/.

ACRL

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a 
division  of the American Library Association (ALA), represents 
more than 13,000  academic and research librarians and interested 
individuals. It 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.

-------------------------------------
Jennifer McLennan
Director of Communications
SPARC