Start here with the official publications of the Division of the Budget.

Then, move on to get analysis from the State Assembly and State Senate.  These legislative documents are considerably easier to read.

If you need any help please contact me.

NYSHEI thanks Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi for sponsoring this important legislation and looks forward to working with him to make New York the first open access state in the nation.

The New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) strongly supports A.180, the Taxpayer Access to Publically Funded Research (TAPFR) act and urges its immediate adoption.

TAPFR will ensure that the published results of research funded by direct state grants will be accessible to the public.  TAPFR builds on the successes of federal open access initiatives such as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) effort that established free public online access to articles made possible by taxpayer grants.  The resulting PubMed Central databank is model resource of more than two million full-text articles accessed by more than half a million users every day.

New York annually funds in excess of $50 million in basic and applied research.  Currently, any resulting scholarship is available only through fee-based or subscription-based sites.  These costs act as a barrier to independent researchers, and a tremendous expense for academic libraries.

By becoming the first among states to adopt an open access policy, New York would give its faculty and researchers an advantage over colleagues in other states.  Making discovered knowledge more available leads to greater influence as the work is more available for citations.  Additionally students, faculty, and the academic institutions themselves will benefit through lower costs and more access to peer-reviewed scholarship.

TAPFR will help lower the costs of information by ensuring that New Yorkers do not have pay twice for the same information.  TAPFR utilizes an accepted and successful model to broaden information access and support innovation.

 On behalf of the public and private academic and research libraries of New York, NYSHEI urges enactment of A.180 of 2013.

The SUNY Librarians Association is partnering with NYSHEI to enhance both organizations.

Roseanne Humes, President of SUNYLA and librarian at Nassau Community College said, “the State University of New York Librarians Association (SUNYLA) has formed a collaborative partnership with NYSHEI. SUNYLA supports NYSHEI’s role as an advocate of Academic Libraries and higher education, and looks forward to working with them.”

Jason Kramer, Executive Director of NYSHEI said, “this is a mutually beneficial relationship.  SUNYLA will gain increased advocacy reporting and engagement, while NYSHEI advocacy will benefit through the increased participation of SUNYLA.”

The agreement, signed last week by leaders of the two organizations, formalizes a collaborative approach that has been building in recent years.  At its essence, the partnership establishes that SUNYLA will aid NYSHEI communications to the academic library community, and NYSHEI will serve as government relations liaison for SUNYLA.  This gives each organization the opportunity to lend its strength to the other.

The SUNYLA-NYSHEI partnership begins immediately and “is made in the hopes of advancing mutually beneficial goals and is adopted in the spirit of cooperation and comity,” according to the document.

Kramer said, “it is important that we all stick together.  Sharing what we do best to improve what we could do better, is just common sense.  I am confident that both groups will be stronger because of this arrangement.”

 On behalf of NYSHEI, it has been a pleasure working with the LAND network on an interim basis.  I am particularly proud that we have been able to maintain the program and enhance efficiency during this transitional period.  Best of luck to all.

Empire Library Delivery (ELD) will start on July 2, 2012 after the expiration of the current LAND contract on June 30, 2012 (currently being administered by NYSHEI). ELD is a service of the NY3Rs Association, Inc. and will provide delivery service to all existing LAND participants. Transition to the new service should be seamless for all current participants, as a contract has been signed with the same vendor who has been providing the service in recent years.
A task force comprised of representatives from the NY3Rs, SUNY, CUNY, ConnectNY and the IDS Project has been working since the fall of 2011 to develop the replacement for LAND. The task force engaged Greg Pronevitz from the Massachusetts Library System as a consultant to assist with the process. After surveying participating libraries, the task force drafted an RFP and went out to bid for the delivery service. Ten proposals were received and reviewed, and three vendors were invited to make in-person presentations to the task force. The majority of LAND participants indicated the cost of the service was a major concern and were unable to absorb higher payments. The task force agreed to contract with the lowest bidder, Velocity Express, for a one-year pilot period.

The NY3Rs will manage the Empire Library Delivery service, and each participant will be invoiced by their regional 3Rs organization. The cost of the service is $21 per stop; $5,250 per year based on five days per week, and allowing for two weeks of non-delivery days (breaks and holidays).

The new service will build on the existing services provided by Velocity to include web-based order/stop entry, label production, tracking, and 24/7/365 customer service (tracking will be rolled out in early Fall 2012). NY3Rs has purchased delivery totes that will be provided to each participating library. The totes will be blue (similar to the current zipper bags) and will be stamped “Empire Library Delivery”, making them easily identifiable by both library staff and Velocity couriers. This service will be managed by a part-time ELD manager employed by NY3Rs Association and evaluated regularly by members of an ELD Participant Task Force (to be developed) to ensure that our members are receiving the exemplary service promised to us by the vendor.

NEXT STEPS:
For libraries that will continue their participation in the statewide delivery system, no action is needed. For those that wish to discontinue their participation, please email jkucsma@metro.org by end-of-business June 29, 2012. Failure to opt-out will result in those libraries being billed for daily per-stop charges until we have received your opt-out request.

As mentioned above, all participating libraries will be billed on a quarterly basis, with an added option to pay for the entire year upfront. Participants from the CUNY and SUNY systems will receive additional details from their central offices shortly.

Additional information regarding issue reporting and other client service issues will be distributed as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact one of the NY3Rs delivery task force members:
Debby Emerson (demerson@clrc.org)
Jason Kucsma (jkucsma@metro.org)
Jean Sheviak (jsheviak@cdlc.org).

We are truly appreciative of the feedback from our member libraries — including their willingness to entertain creative solutions to address the service — and we are confident that we have reached a solution that will satisfy the majority of participating LAND libraries. Additional developments will be posted on the Empire Library Delivery website: empirelibrarydelivery.org.

The new procurement reforms were the top advocacy priority for NYSHEI in the current session, and their enactment will pave the way for continued NYSHEI success by removing the need to obtain statutory authority to actualize NYSHEI initiatives like ARIA (Academic Research Information Access) and CIRA (Clinical Information Resource Access).

While final implementation of the procurement changes will require continuing work to shape the regulatory and policy applications of the state Office of General Services (OGS), a summary of the statutory changes is below.

* Information resources are defined, unifying the procurement governance of academic, professional, and industry journals, reference handbooks and manuals, research tracking tools, indexes and abstracts.  Previously such information resources were scattered in law and thus subject to separate policy.
Information resources are now established as commodities.  Previously information resources could be viewed as commodities, services, or technologies.

*Authority is granted to the Commissioner of OGS to authorize the use of centralized contracts, thus removing the potential limitations on participation resulting from statutory exclusions.

* The responsibility for payments on purchases made under central contracts is explicitly placed on the purchaser.  This removes a potential interpretation that the state could be liable for defaults.  The potential for state liability was a major stumbling block in the realization of ARIA and CIRA.

* Central contracts for information resources may be initiated by a state agency, or by the Commissioner of OGS upon request by a not-for-profit, a consortia, or other library association, among others.

* The threshold for initiation of the procurement process for commodities is raised from $15,000 to $50,000.

* For many commodity contracts the pre-approval process is replaced with post-contract reporting.  This will improve flexibility and speed of securing needed information resources.

* In central contract purchases, the participation of independent not-for-profit institutions of higher education is explicitly permitted.

Taken together, these changes will empower academic and research libraries – both public and private – to leverage greater buying power and proceed in purchases with greater efficiency.  This new process will open the possibilities of new collaborations and efforts to obtain widely desired information resources.

NYSHEI is grateful to the Governor, legislators, and OGS Commissioner Destito for recognizing the challenges confronting libraries.  We are most appreciative of their willingness to partner with NYSHEI to craft the changes, and look forward to our continued partnership to secure proper implementation of the reforms.

The procurement law changes are contained in state budget bill A.9055-D.

The “taxpayer access to publically funded research act” (TAPFR) is now active in the New York State Legislature.  TAPFR is supported by the New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI) and sponsored by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens) – pictured above.

TAPFR establishes that the published results of publically funded research be openly and electronically accessible to all members of the public.

“The academic and research libraries of New York applaud the vision of Assemblyman Hevesi,” said NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer.  “Mr. Hevesi understands that taxpayers deserve access to the research results they paid for.”

“Access to information is a matter of public interest.  It advances innovation and the application of new knowledge.  Open access benefits our schools, communities, economy, and authors.  I urge the full legislature to support this bill,” said Kramer.

TAPFR was inspired by HR 5037, the federal research public access act (FRPAA), and the open access success of the National Institutes of Health embodied in the development of PubMed Central.

If enacted, New York would become the first state to adopt a measure to ensure open access to publically funded research.    The State of New York spends around $50 million annually in direct research support, the majority of which flows through the state Department of Health in support of stem cell research.

New York taxpayers annually fund more than $50 million in basic and applied research and projects.  This public investment often leads to results that are published in a variety of academic journals.

Because taxpayers underwrite this research they have a right to expect that dissemination and use will be maximized for public benefit, and that they themselves will have access to the published results.

While publically funded research in New York is small compared to the federal investment, the federal government has taken significant steps toward open access policies.

The first executive order of President Barack Obama created the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government.  This directive has evolved into the Open Government Partnership and a national action plan.  A key component of this plan is a call to promote accessibility of data produced through publically funded research.

A sterling example of the benefits of open access is the Public Access Policy adopted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under President George W. Bush.  In establishing free public online access to articles reporting on the results of research for which they paid, taxpayers have a remarkable resource.  PubMed Central is a databank of more than two million full-text articles accessed by more than half a million users every day.

New York, by becoming the first among states to adopt an open access policy, would give its research and researchers an advantage over colleagues in other states.  Making discovered knowledge more available leads to greater influence as the work is more available for citations.  Additionally students, faculty, and the academic institutions themselves will benefit through lower costs and more access to peer-reviewed scholarship.

It is therefore in the public interest that every state agency, department, division, or public authority with a research budget, adopt a policy that requires:

each researcher funded totally or partially by New York State taxes submit an electronic copy of a manuscript that has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal;

• that the manuscript is preserved digitally in a repository that provides free public access and long-term preservation; and,
• free, online access is publically available no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Kramer used the opportunity to state NYSHEI’s support of the procurement reforms included in the budget proposal.  Additionally Kramer asked the legislature to support open access of publicly funded research, and for full-funding and modernization of library aid formula.

A full copy of the text is available here.

The incomparable State Senator Hugh Farley (R-Schenectady) today returned to his role as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Libraries.

The Senate Committee on Libraries was re-established on January 10, 2012 after a three year hiatus.   Senator Farley, Library Chair from 1978 to 2008, was immediately named Chair to the revived committee.

“When the Senate changed leadership in 2009, the Democratic Majority eliminated this committee. I was extremely disappointed and concerned by this. Libraries have their own special needs, and I had recommended reestablishing a special Senate Committee to focus on and address their issues.  I applaud Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos for recognizing the importance of libraries and appointing this committee,” said Senator Farley.

Jason Kramer, Executive Director of NYSHEI said, “the academic and research library community is glad to have our good friend and ally back where he belongs, as the vanguard of the state’s libraries.  We are truly thankful for his past and future leadership.”

Senator Farley has sponsored virtually every piece of major library legislation since 1978.  He was a member of Governor Mario Cuomo’s Commission on Libraries and was also an elected delegate to the White House Conferences on Libraries in 1979 and 1991. He has fought to secure State funding for libraries and to establish new forms of library services, including school library systems and hospital library programs.

In 2009, the Mohawk Valley Library System honored Senator Farley for his advocacy and support of libraries. In 2011, Senator Farley received the Ex Libris Award from the organization New Yorkers for Better Libraries in recognition of his leadership on library issues.

In direct opposition to the open access policies of the administrations of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Ms. Maloney, seeks to prohibit federal agencies from conditioning their grants to require that articles reporting on publicly funded research be made accessible to the public online.

NYSHEI and its members strongly oppose the Research Works Act and are working actively to stop the bill.