Open Access is a term used to represent both an idea, that the results of publicly funded research be freely available, and a movement, characterized by various initiatives to make published scholarly literature freely available on the web. Below are some examples of open access initiatives.

Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science, one of the pioneers in open access publishing models, is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature freely available to the public.

Berlin Declaration on Open Access to knowledge in the sciences and humanities
The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities was signed in October 2003 as an outcome of an international conference on open access.

NIH Initiative
Beginning in September 2004, the National Institutes of Health began facilitating enhanced public access to NIH-funded health related research information through open access, widely supported by the library community and by many Nobel Laureates.

January 2008 Policy Revision Announced

Budapest Open Access Initiative
The Budapest OAI arose from a small but lively meeting convened in Budapest by the Open Society Institute (OSI) on December 1-2, 2001

SPARC Open Access Newsletter
A monthly newsletter tracking developments in the open access movement

Open Access News
For those staying informed up to the minute - daily updates via blog