The next generation of life scientists are currently undergraduates—and the success of this generation depends upon the quality of the education they receive. It is clear the expectations for undergraduate education are changing (Collins et al. 2003). When the National Research Council published its recommendations for changing the undergraduate training of future life scientists, the BIO2010 report, access to student-based research was a primary recommendation: “Colleges and universities should provide all students with opportunities to become engaged in research …” (National Research Council 2003). As every investigator knows, research begins in the literature, not in the laboratory. Therefore, an unstated assumption of the BIO2010 report was that students need to have unencumbered access to the research literature in order to engage in research and become scientific leaders in the 21st century.

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