[RangelandsWest] URGENT: Request Your Immediate Help to Support Journal MOA with SRM

[Barb Hutchinson]

URGENT REQUEST

 

Dear Rangelands Partners:

 

As was discussed at the Annual Meeting last month in Alaska, the Arizona
team, along with the SRM Outreach, Communications, and Website Committee,
and the SRM International Affairs Committee, is in negotiation with the SRM
Board and Allen Press regarding a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the
University of Arizona Libraries (UA) for updating the backfiles and
continuing to add new content with a 5-year rolling window to the SRM
journals open access archive at the UA Libraries.  Since the early years of
the Rangelands West initiative, the SRM full-text journal articles have been
a significant resource offered through our websites.  

 

Unfortunately, at this time, the Board has declined to renew our MOA because
of concerns about possible lost revenue from allowing free access to any
additional full-text articles from the backfiles of the SRM journals.

 

Leonard Jolly, a new SRM Board member this year, has been working hard to
advocate for us.  There has been a great deal of data provided from both
sides in support of arguments both for and against.   Leonard feels that the
most compelling case can be made through brief testimonials from
stakeholders describing the need for maintaining ongoing open access to the
backfiles.  There is concern that limiting this access will unfairly impact
people who lack financial means and/or affiliations with large
organizations.   

 

The SRM Board is meeting face-to-face in Denver on August 11-13, 2013 and
will be discussing this issue again at that time.    If you or anyone you
work with (ranchers or other users), in the U.S. or elsewhere, could provide
a brief testimonial, please send it ASAP (or by August 1st) so we can
compile them for Leonard to present to the Board.   Also, if you have
connections through SRM with any other Board members, we would appreciate
your contacting them to let them know more of the background about this
issue. 

 

Thank you for your assistance!  Your help is most appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

Jeanne Pfander (UA Libraries), Lovina Roselle (UIdaho), and Barb Hutchinson
(UA CALS)

 

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