** Cross-Posted **
I could not attend, the European Rectors' meeting on Open Access,
but I did send a 23-minute PPT video, part of which, so I understand, was
shown at the meeting.
The whole video is online. Please feel free to use it to promote Open
Access Mandates and Metrics at your own institution. (The very brief
intro is in French; the rest is in English.)
http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/liege22.mov
On Sat, 20 Oct 2007, Stevan Harnad wrote:
> Press Release from the university of Liege
> http://www.ulg.ac.be/relationsexterieures/RecteursOA/
>
> (Thanks to Alma Swan for forwarding the Press Release from Rector Bernard
> Rentier)
>
> On Thursday, October 18, the Rector of the University of Liege hosted the
> Rectors of the Universities of Trieste and Rome 2, Roma 3, Polytechnic of
> Catalonia in Barcelona, Vicenza, Porto, from Salford, Lancaster, Rotterdam
> (U. Erasmus), Turin, Antwerp, Ghent and Southampton, as well as the
> chairmen or directors of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the Instituto
> Superiore di Sanita, Caspur Consortium, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
> and a representative of the European Commission .
>
> The purpose of the meeting was to establish the foundations of a European
> movement for Open Access to scientific and scholarly publications:
> EurOpenScholarship.
>
> The Rector of U, Liege has been involved in the movement to free research
> publications from the financial straitjacket imposed on universities and
> research centers by the large publishers. Since 1993, while the price
> index rose by about 30%, journal prices have risen to more than 275%,
> making it impossible for a normally funded institution to access all the
> literature essential for conducting good research.
>
> Despite the Berlin Declaration in 2003 and the European Petition of 2007,
> few universities have actually implemented a vigorous open access policy.
> That is why the Chancellor of U. Liege wanted to gather in Liege the
> senior leadership of the European universities that are the most advanced
> in this respect and to launch an initiative that provides a practical
> follow-up to the declaration already signed by so many research
> institutions.
>
> The meeting resulted in the creation of the EurOpenScholarship whose goal
> will be to continue efforts by informing the European university
> communities about the opportunities available to researchers today for
> providing open access, as well as to establish, in the universities and
> research centers in Europe, a central institutional repository (in Liege,
> "DIGITHEQUE"), allowing publications to be deposited and, wherever
> possible, made openly accessible to all.
>
> The University of Liege, which signed a massive OA petition in 2007 (the
> highest number of signatures from a single university) is positioning
> itself as a pioneer and clearly much of this is now considered the way of
> the future for scientific publication. The ambition is to spread this
> message across Europe.
>
> Ce jeudi 18 octobre, le Recteur recevait � l?ULg les recteurs des
> universit�s de Trieste, de Rome 2, de Rome 3, Polytechnique de Catalogne �
> Barcelone, de Trente, de Porto, de Salford, de Lancaster, de Rotterdam (U.
> Erasmus), de Turin, d?Anvers, de Gand et de Southampton, ainsi que les
> pr�sidents ou directeurs du Paul Ehrlich Institut, de l?Instituto
> Superiore di Sanita, du Caspur Consortium, du Rutherford Appleton
> Laboratory et une repr�sentante de la Commission Europ�enne.
>
> L?objectif de la rencontre �tait d?�tablir les bases d?un mouvement
> europ�en en faveur de l?acc�s libre (Open Access) aux publications
> scientifiques.
>
> On conna�t l?implication de notre Recteur dans ce mouvement qui vise �
> lib�rer la publication des travaux de recherche du carcan financier impos�
> aux universit�s et centres de recherche par les plus grandes maisons
> d?�dition. Depuis 1993, alors que l?indice des prix a augment� de 30 %
> environ, les publications p�riodiques ont grimp� � plus de 275 %, ce qui,
> dans une institution normalement financ�e, rend impossible l?acc�s �
> l?ensemble de la litt�rature indispensable � une bonne recherche.
>
> Suite � la D�claration de Berlin de 2003 et � la P�tition europ�enne de
> 2007, peu d?universit�s ont mis en application une politique r�solue en
> mati�re d?acc�s libre. C?est pourquoi le Recteur a voulu rassembler �
> Li�ge les autorit�s dirigeantes des universit�s europ�ennes les plus
> avanc�es � cet �gard et lancer une initiative qui assure un suivi � cette
> prise de position pourtant sign�e par de tr�s nombreuses institutions de
> recherche.
>
> Cette r�union a abouti � la cr�ation de l?EurOpenScholarship dont le but
> sera de poursuivre l?action par l?information des possibilit�s offertes
> aujourd?hui aux chercheurs et l?�tablissement, dans les universit�s et
> centres de recherche europ�ens, d?un d�p�t �lectronique institutionnel (�
> Li�ge, la � DIGITHEQUE �) permettant l?archivage des publications, leur
> diss�mination et, chaque fois que c?est possible, leur mise en acc�s libre
> � tous.
> Notre institution, qui a sign� massivement la p�tition de 2007 (le plus
> grand nombre de signatures pour une seule universit�) se positionne ainsi
> clairement en pionnier de ce beaucoup consid�rent aujourd?hui comme la
> voie du futur pour la publication scientifique. Son ambition est de faire
> �cole � travers l?Europe.
Received on Sat Oct 20 2007 - 13:33:21 BST