In the 10 December, 2010 Research Library Issue report (a bimonthly report from ARL, CNI, and SPARC) Prudence S. Adler, Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations and Information Policy, ARL, considers three critical attributes shared by the research, teaching, and learning enterprise and the Internet. They are a) providing access to research resources; b) promoting free speech; c) and fostering openness, innovation, and transparency.

The conclusion of the report (entitled Three Key Public Policies for Research Libraries: Net Neutrality, Fair Use, Open and Public Access) :

The ARL Strategic Plan calls for ARL to influence “laws, public policies, regulations, and judicial decisions governing the use of copyrighted materials so that they better meet the needs of the educational and research communities” and to contribute “to reducing economic, legal, and technical barriers to access and use of the research results from publicly funded research projects, enabling rapid and inexpensive worldwide dissemination of facts and ideas.” To succeed, research libraries are dependent upon a non-discriminatory, robust, open, technological infrastructure that will permit effective use of resources under copyright, in the public domain, and under other legal regimes. Such an infrastructure must encourage emerging scholarly communication models that realize the benefits of networked-based technologies and reflect the interests of the academy and the public.

The full report.