sept09c2.indd


C&RL News September 2009  476

New legislation refl ect Congress’ 
growing support for open access 
On the heels of last year’s mandatory imple-
mentation of the National Institute of Health 
(NIH) Public Access Policy via the Consoli-
dated Appropriations Act of 2008, a bill and a 
resolution have been introduced in the Senate 
that would—if passed—improve access to 
federal taxpayer-funded information. 

FRPAA of 2009, S. 1373
On June 25, 2009, S. 1373, the Federal Research 
Public Access Act (FRPAA) of 2009, was intro-
duced and sponsored by Senators John Cornyn 
(R-TX) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs. According to the bill 
language, its purpose is “To provide for Federal 
agencies to develop public access policies re-
lating to research conducted by employees of 
that agency or from funds administered by that 
agency.” The bill is almost exactly the same as 
the one introduced in 2006 (S. 2695) by the 
same name, which ultimately died in the 109th 
Congress. 

The bill is signifi cant for libraries and 
the public because it would dramatically 
increase access to information by requiring 
federal agencies and departments with an-
nual extramural research budgets of more 
than $100 million to make available via the 
Internet the fi nal manuscript of articles result-
ing from research funded by U.S. taxpayers.  
The manuscripts would be maintained and 
preserved in a digital archive, ensuring the 
research is available to the public. Essentially, 
the bill would advance and expand the NIH 
Public Access Policy to 11 additional agencies 
and departments. The ability to search and 
access the archives of nonclassifi ed research 
of these agencies and departments—such as 
the Department of Agriculture, Department 
of Education, Department of Energy, Depart-

ment of Homeland Security, Department of 
Transportation, Environmental Protection 
Agency, and the National Science Founda-
tion—would provide open online access 
to research. Undoubtedly, such an archive 
would allow librarians the ability to better 
assist library patrons with their information 
and research needs, as well as allow direct 
access by the public. Without the passage of 
bill S. 1373, taxpayer-funded research will 
continue to be inaccessible—without a fee. 

Congressional Research Service (CRS) 
Resolution (S. Res. 118)
In addition to the recent introduction of the 
FRPAA of 2009, Senators Leiberman and John 
McCain (R-AZ) sponsored Senate Resolution 
118 in April 2009 to make nonconfi dential CRS 
reports available for free via the Internet. The 
resolution comes after several years of librarians, 
academics, open government advocates, and 
concerned citizens urging Congress to provide 
free access to these taxpayer-funded reports. 
More than 100 million tax dollars are spent to 
fund CRS (housed at the Library of Congress), 
which generates detailed reports for Congressio-
nal lawmakers and their staff upon request. Law 
makers sometimes share copies of CRS reports 
with their constituents upon request; however, 
there is no way for the general public to know 
what reports have been published. 

Two steps forward . . . one step back
This recent legislative activity signals Congressio-
nal interest in increasing access to information, 
especially taxpayer-funded government infor-
mation. That said, we wrote back in March about 
“The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act,” H.R. 
801. The bill, if passed, would essentially negate 
or cancel out the NIH Public Access Policy. 
While this bill introduced by Representative John 
Conyers (D-MI) in the U.S. House Committee on 
the Judiciary would deter open access, we are 
hopeful that the introduction of S. 1373 and S. 
Res. 118 indicate that some access policies are 
headed in a more “open” direction. 

Jenni Terry is press offi  cer at ALA’s Washington Offi  ce, 
e-mail: jterry@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eJenni Terry