access, and two open meetings were held. Hundreds of e-mails were exchanged between ad hoc subcommittee members and faculty interested in or concerned about the policy. Faculty Senators were given an informational presentation on the issues later, in spring 2009, a draft policy document with a longer informational document was shared with all KU faculty prior to a vote on the Senate floor. As part of a series of negotiations with the Faculty Senate, the policy was approved overwhelmingly in April 2009, albeit with some revisions to the ad hoc subcommittee’s proposals. That policy required that additional information be described, outlined, and presented to the Faculty Senate for approval by spring 2010. As a result, a new and larger implementation task force was formed in the summer of 2009, composed of faculty from a range of disciplines and ranks (including librarians), university administrators, and a representative of the Faculty Senate. All members of the task force were strong supporters of the basic idea of open access, even if not yet well informed of the complex issues. Starting that summer this new task force worked tirelessly to consult with and inform faculty across campus, seek guidance on policy revisions, and outline an implementation plan. The implemen- tation plan described processes that would be undertaken to carry out the terms of the policy. In an iterative and deliberative process that involved over 200 faculty and administrators in over 20 public meetings (brown bag lunches, open meetings, administrative meetings, departmental meetings, and Senate briefings), faculty were engaged, questions and concerns addressed, and feedback received. The task force then considered, debated, and summarized the input received, and wrote new drafts of the policy and implementation plan. “Early adopter” departments and individual faculty members were enlisted to test implementation processes as well. A progress report was presented to the Senate Executive Committee and the Faculty Senate, and was received enthusiastically. In February 2010, final drafts of recommended revisions to the policy and the implementation document were provided to the aforementioned bodies. Finally, after some debate on the Faculty Senate floor, the policy was approved as submitted and the implementation document endorsed. With this approval and endorsement, KU’s open-access policy took full effect. One observer recently noted that KU is now the first university to have an RLI 269 6 Achieving Consensus on the University of Kansas Open-Access Policy ( C O N T I N U E D ) APRIL 2010 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC Achieving reasonable levels of consensus across such a diverse faculty required diplomacy, patience, forethought, and careful crafting of presentations and messages to faculty.