The next installment of the prestigious, international Berlin Open Access Conference Series is set to take place in North America for the first time this November. Hosted annually since 2003, the conference series convenes leaders in the science, humanities, research, funding and policy communities around the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and the Humanities. Over 300 leading international research, scientific, and cultural institutions from around the world have signed the declaration. Despite the tremendous progress we’ve had in advancing Open Access in recent years, you’ll notice that the number of signatures from U.S. and Canadian institutions has remained quite small.

In anticipation of the meeting, please join us in recruiting signatures to the declaration from the leaders of your institutions and of the organizations to which you belong. University and college presidents, chancellors, or provosts, as well as the directors of museums, archives, and non-profit organizations, are encouraged to sign the declaration before the Berlin 9 Meeting convenes on November 9th, 2011. The goal is to clearly demonstrate strong support for the declaration in conjunction with the conference, which research funders, policymakers, and other influential communities are expected to attend in force. [read more]

• Call to action
• Berlin Declaration and conference series overview [ pdf | ppt ], presented by Jennifer McLennan at the American Library Association meeting, July 2011
• Short backgrounder on the Declaration, with links to the full text
• Talking points
• University of Kansas Open Access roadmap [pdf], presented by Lorraine Haricombe at the American Library Association meeting, July 2011
• The importance of the Declaration and why institutions should support it, presented by Dieter Stein at the Association of Research Libraries membership meeting, May 2011 [ slides | audio ]
• Email discussion list

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