Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions (COAPI) – First Annual Report
Activities (in reverse order):
- Members met over breakfast at ALA in Anaheim, CA, June 23rd, 2012. Submitted letter to be circulated among congressmen supporting FRPAA, June 13, 2012. See here.
- Created a Coordinating Group that began meeting in Spring 2012. This group will facilitate the needs, management and development of COAPI.
- Current Coordinating Group members are, Ada Emmett (interim coordinator), KU; Andrew Wesolek, Utah State; Anne Langley, Princeton; Ellen Duranceau, MIT; Micah Vandegrift, Florida State; Ray English, Oberlin; Yuan Li, Syracuse.
- Group working on how best to divvy up responsibilities and decide on selection of regular (or rotating) chair, and how Coordinating Group members might assist.
- Developed a logo for COAPI (with generous assistance from KU).
- With SPARC’s generosity and assistance created two web pages to disseminate out information to the public about COAPI.
- Developed web working space for COAPI members and subgroups, with sponsorship and assistance from SPARC.
- Met for a half-day meeting at SPARC’s OA meeting in Kansas City, March 2012. The meeting was catered with a meal and snacks, again with SPARC’s generous assistance.
- First major action completed as a coalition: the submission of a lengthy response to the White House’s RFI, January 12, 2012, available.
History:
- COAPI was formed after two conference calls between 21 North American universities with open access policies, in the summer of 2011. The first call was in July 2011 and the second in late August when the decision to form the coalition was made.
- COAPI is comprised of representatives (librarians, faculty, library deans, directors, staff) from 46 institutions: institutions with formal OA policies in early and middle stages of implementation and those institutions with strongly supported OA resolutions and/or those close to the adoption of formal OA policies.
- COAPI’s first face-to-face meeting happened at a ½ day meeting held prior to the Berlin 9 conference in Washington DC, November 2011.
- Two main objectives:
- Exchange best and good-enough practices in implementing OA policies: information exchange and support of implementation strategies, challenges, staffing, methodologies, IR development and planning, campus politics, etc.
- Leverage the strength and experience of members to advocate on behalf of policies and practices that assist in the ongoing transformation of the scholarly communication system.
Future:
- Plan future meetings to coincide with other professional meetings happening around the North America (as COAPI has done in the past).
- Define and clarify COAPI organizational issues, (managing growth, membership, functions, administration).
- Utilize information gathered in a survey of COAPI members related to their local OA policies, resolutions, and implementation processes of those policies.
- Collaborate with ARL and SPARC on topics of interest.
