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SPARC
http://www.arl.org/sparc/

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition), SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan are an international alliance of academic and research libraries and organizations. SPARC was established in 1997 as an initiative of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to correct imbalances in scholarly publishing and to address the high and rising cost of scholarly journals, especially in science, technology and medicine. SPARC endeavors to facilitate cost effective access to peer reviewed journals in a networked digital environment.

Academic libraries have coped with the problem of escalating journal prices over the years by canceling journal subscriptions and reducing book purchases. Researchers are disadvantaged in a scholarly communication model that is distorted by scientific journals costing thousands of dollars.

Researchers, libraries and society benefit immensely through SPARC’s efforts in helping to provide economically affordable access to scholarship.

What SPARC Does

SPARC provides support and guidance to faculty, educational organizations, professional societies, scholarly publishers and librarians interested in creating change in scholarly communication. It also educates stakeholders about the challenges in scholarly communication and the opportunities for change, and advocates policy changes that improve the timeliness and accessibility of research.

SPARC's Strategy

• Encourage publishers to enter markets where the prices are high and there is a lack of competition.
• Encourage the professional societies and other non-profit publishers to introduce new publications in the market. SPARC helps provide a subscription base for these new publications.
• Partner with publishers who bring high quality and low cost research alternatives to libraries and researchers.
• Develop campaigns that spread the awareness of scholarly communication issues and encourage institutional and community participation in the scholarly communication process.

The Alliance For Taxpayer Access
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a diverse and growing alliance of organizations representing taxpayers, patients, physicians, researchers, and institutions that support open public access to taxpayer-funded research.

Currently, the vast majority of publicly funded research is available only through costly subscriptions, institutional licenses or single article purchase. The current system of subscription based access restricts dissemination and use of research.

ATA’s mission is to provide on-line open and full access to tax payer funded and peer reviewed research at no extra cost.

ATA's Statement of Principles:

1. American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internet to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by the U.S. Government.
2. Widespread access to the information contained in these articles is an essential, inseparable component of our nation’s investment in science.
3. This and other scientific information should be shared in cost-effective ways that take advantage of the Internet, stimulate further discovery and innovation, and advance the translation of this knowledge into public benefits.
4. Enhanced access to and expanded sharing of information will lead to usage by millions of scientists, professionals, and individuals, and will deliver an accelerated return on the taxpayers' investment.

Information Access Alliance
http://www.informationaccess.org/

The Information Access Alliance (IAA) was formed in 2003 as a joint initiative of leading US national library organizations to address growing market dysfunctions in academic publishing markets. In particular, IAA is concerned with:

• insupportably high prices of journals and other serial publications, which leads to cancellation and reduced information availability;
• accelerating industry consolidation, which contributes to price increases and elevates barriers to market entry; and
• anti-competitive product bundling practices by an array of large publishers.

IAA supports a competitive and diverse academic publishing marketplace in which the needs of researchers, their institutions and funders, and the public are well served. That marketplace should be open to new entrants and provide a level playing field for all types of publishers. IAA works with legal experts and economists to advocate adoption of better antitrust review standards by state and federal antitrust enforcement agencies.