A message from Kara Malenfant, ACRL's Senior Strategist for Special Initiatives:

Currently circulating in U.S. Congress is the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science and Technology Act of 2013 (FIRST) Act. One provision of the bill – Section 302 – would undercut federal agencies’ ability to effectively implement the widely-supported White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Directive on Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research, undermine the public access program pioneered by the National Institutes of Health, and put the U.S. at a severe disadvantage among our global competitors.

Earlier this week, ACRL joined with 10 other national and regional library, publishing, and advocacy organizations to express our strong opposition to this language in a letter to Congress (see http://sparc.arl.org/sites/default/files/OAWG%20FIRST%20Letter_0.pdf). ACRL’s legislative agenda includes increased access to federally funded research as one of our top issues.

We encourage you to let your members of Congress know that you oppose language in the proposed FIRST Act to delay public access. Learn more, read talking points and take action at http://www.sparc.arl.org/advocacy/national/first.