The White House, responding to a We the People petition from May 2012, announced Friday that federal agencies with more than $100 million in research will make federally funded research and data sets freely available to the public within 12 months of publication. The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), which contains many of the same provisions, is still moving through Congress, and its passage is important to make permanent the gains achieved through the White House memo. ACRL Insider has a good post with many helpful links. While many details are still unclear, and the status of FASTR is still in the air, this is a major step forward for open access in the US. Huzzah!