Open Access Button should prompt institutions to be more cooperative in sharing research papers

There is a new group online called  “Open Access Button” which offers a free subscription (link).  When you need a research paper the group emails the author or source to see if you can get the paper free without delay or red tape (as with JSTOR, which I have used and found clumsy).  It allows you to keep track publicly of which publishers and researchers will share their information, especially with other students, inventors, or researchers.  Imagine the value of this if there is some new idea for an effective drug or early intervention test for an infectious disease like Ebola or SARS (or HIV). 

  

This is the kind of facility Aaron Swartz (“The Internet’s Own Boy”) would have wanted. 

Note that the button can be tailored to the individual web browser.