Potentially of interest to U.S.-based Wikipedians, especially those
working on physics. This is a nice precedent for APS to set; I hope
other scholarly societies follow. Feel free to lobby your local public
library to sign up for access :)
-- phoebe
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "APS ASSOCPUB" <assocpub(a)aps.org>
To: PAMNET(a)LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 7:04:18 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: APS Online Journals Available Free in U.S. Public Libraries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APS ONLINE JOURNALS AVAILABLE FREE IN U.S. PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Ridge, NY, 28 July 2010: The American Physical Society (APS) announces
a new public access initiative that will give readers and researchers in
public libraries in the United States full use of all online APS
journals, from the most recent articles back to the first issue in 1893,
a collection including over 400,000 scientific research papers. APS
will provide this access at no cost to participating public libraries,
as a contribution to public engagement with the ongoing development of
scientific understanding.
APS Publisher Joseph Serene observed that "public libraries have long
played a central role in our country’s intellectual life, and we hope
that through this initiative they will become an important avenue for
the general public to reach our research journals, which until now have
been available only through the subscriptions at research institutions
that currently cover the significant costs of peer review and online
publication.”
Librarians can obtain access by accepting a simple online site license
and providing valid IP addresses of public-use computers in their
libraries (
http://librarians.aps.org/account/public_access_new). The
license requires that public library users must be in the library when
they read the APS journals or download articles. Initially the program
will be offered to U.S. public libraries, but it may include additional
countries in the future.
"The Public Library program is entirely consistent with the APS
objective to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics," said Gene
Sprouse, APS Editor in Chief. "Our goal is to provide access to everyone
who wants and needs our journals and this shift in policy represents the
first of several steps the APS is taking towards that goal."
--Contact: Amy Halsted, Special Assistant to the Editor in Chief,
halsted(a)aps.org, 631-591-4232
--About the APS: The American Physical Society is the world’s largest
professional body of physicists, representing close to 48,000 physicists
in academia and industry worldwide. It has offices in Ridge, NY;
Washington, DC; and College Park, MD. For more information:
www.aps.org.