The U.S. Senate today confirmed Francis Collins to head the National Institutes of Health. The Scientist notes that Comment. As I noted in our post on the nomination: We can be thankful that the Senate confirmed the nomination, and quickly. If there's any drawback, it's that the lack of a hearing means a missed chance for Collins to explain his views on OA to Congress and the public in a high-profile forum.

One day I'll survey users of the OA tracking project (OATP).  But since I won't be able to do it any time soon, let me throw out an open-ended question. If you've used OATP as a reader or tagger, regularly or irregularly, did you find any part of the experience to be frustrating or confusing?  If you have thoughts or suggestions, please drop me a line.  I know that Connotea is flaky these days, and often slow or down.

Erica Hendry, Students Reach Settlement in Turnitin Suit, Chronicle of Higher Education , August 3, 2009.  Excerpt: Comment .  Under this standard for fair use, wouldn't Google have prevailed against the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, making the whole complicated and controversial Google book settlement unnecessary? Update (8/5/09).

I'm back from my travels (extended without my consent due to auto troubles) and settling back in to the usual rhythm of life. I've resumed tagging at OATP (where others, Peter included, had continued in my absence) and will pick up blogging tomorrow.

I just mailed the August issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter .  This issue takes a close look at the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), which Senators John Cornyn and Joe Lieberman reintroduced in the US Senate in June. The round-up section briefly notes 140 OA developments from July.

CREST has released the results of its questionnaire on OA.  The questionnaire responses were due April 1, 2009, and the EC accepted the summary of responses on June 9, 2009.  (Thanks to Heinz Pampel.) CREST is the Comité de la recherche scientifique et technique (or Scientific and Technical Research Committee).  One of its missions is to identify research and development priorities for the EU.

I'm at a conference and then will be on vacation. Preparing for the trip, including wrapping up work on other projects, along with Peter's start at the Berkman Center and travel directly before that, have contributed to the abnormal quiet in posting at OAN. I apologize and, as Peter did, urge readers to follow the OATP feed and other blogs for more comprehensive news about OA in the next weeks. I'll be back on the job at the end of the month.

The White House, President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate Francis Collins as NIH Director, press release, July 8, 2009. (Thanks to Heather Joseph.) Comment. This is good news for OA supporters in two ways. First, Collins has been a public advocate for OA to data, most notably in the Human Genome Project, which he lead.

Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Expectations of the Screenager Generation, presented at RLG Annual Partnership Symposium (Boston, June 3, 2009). (Thanks to Fabrizio Tinti.) Report on a study of 12-18 year olds and their expectations of libraries and information resources.

David Wojick, Sharing Results is the Engine of Scientific Progress, OSTIblog, June 17, 2009.

Bernard Rentier, Faux départ !, Bernard Rentier, Recteur, June 22, 2009. Read it in the original French or Google's English. See also our past posts on Enabling Open Scholarship and its predecessor, EurOpenScholar.