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Access to Government Information

MLA Letter to Representative Martin Sabo (D-MN)
regarding H.R. 2613: Public Access to Science Act


July 30, 2003

The Honorable Martin Olav Sabo
U.S. House of Representatives
2336 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Sabo:

We are writing on behalf of the members of the Medical Library Association (MLA) concerning H.R. 2613, the "Public Access to Science Act." MLA applauds you for addressing this timely issue and strongly supports what we understand to be the intent of the bill-that information generated from federally funded scientific research should be easily accessible to every person in the United States.

MLA is comprised of almost 5,000 health information professionals and institutions that believe that having access to timely, relevant, and accurate information is vital to the health of our nation, education, and research. However, we are concerned that the legislation could also have the unintended consequence of overturning current copyright law that was put in place to protect an author's works. While excluding federally funded research from copyright protection might facilitate more open access to research findings, it also has the potential to interfere with technology transfer activities that support the development of new products and therapies used to treat and cure disease in patients. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 gives universities responsibility for protecting and commercializing the scientific discoveries made with federal funds. This act has encouraged many successful collaborations among the academic community, government, and industry that have benefited society.

MLA recognizes that this is a time of rapid change and transition in our society where the Internet provides unprecedented opportunities for more open access to the scientific literature. The National Library of Medicine plays an important role in disseminating medical research information for free to the public through MEDLINEplus, PubMed Central, and ClinicalTrials.gov. There are challenges that require closer examination of the process by which open access functions within the current copyright law including the need to develop business models that support open access and do not dismantle the technology transfer process, maintaining the integrity of the information generated by research, addressing the consequences of copyright prohibition on the practice of research and scholarship, and preservation of the information. Several new initiatives have been established to address these including Creative Commons, BioOne, the Budapest Open Access Initiative, and the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing.

Below are web resources that provide more detailed information on these issues and initiatives. We hope that MLA can work with you to forward our common goal of open access to quality health information.

Sincerely,

Patricia L. Thibodeau, President
Medical Library Association Associate
Dean for Library Services
Duke University Loyola University

Logan Ludwig, Ph.D., Chair
MLA Governmental Relations Committee
Associate Dean for Library & Telehealth Services
Medical Center Library Strich School of Medicine

Select Web Resources on Open Access and Scholarly Publishing
Testimonies presented at July 10, 2003 House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, "NIH: Moving Research from the Bench to Bedside":

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