The Faculty Senate Task Force on Scholarly Publication and Authors’ Rights presented a draft resolution yesterday that would grant the University open access to scholarly articles written by faculty members.
As part of the provision, faculty members will have to provide the Provost’s Office with an electronic peer-review manuscript version of their articles. An article then will be made available electronically to the public for non-commercial purposes no sooner than 12 months after it is published, according to the resolution.
Madelyn Wessel, special advisor to the University Librarian, said the written resolution was adapted to a similar one passed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. Wessel added that the University opted to follow the Harvard model because it was the most logical of the existing resolutions at other higher educational institutions.
Task Force Chair Brian Pusser noted that the resolution originated from a survey by the University Library’s subcommittee for copyright and intellectual property.
“Many faculty on Grounds were quite concerned about intellectual property and copyright, that the Web ... has changed the copyright environment in higher education,” Pusser said. “We had very strong support to create a progressive environment in order to maximize our ability to conduct teaching and research in this very rapidly changing environment.”
The resolution was by no means intended, though, to bring about a comprehensive change in the copyright and intellectual property arenas.
“Rather, we seek the door of capacity to protect and improve tools that we can use in our scholarly work to support teaching and research functions here at the University,” Pusser said, adding that the Faculty Senate is looking to deal with the current economic climate while maintaining educational access to articles and materials.
Council member Daniel Willingham said one reason behind the resolution was that it did not make sense for colleges or universities to purchase scholarly articles written by faculty members who conducted their research at those institutions.
Furthermore, Wessel also noted the resolution will only affect scholarly articles and that books are excluded, partly because other higher education institutions that have enacted similar legislation have decided to only address scholarly articles.
Faculty members will be able to waive the policy by submitting a written request to the Provost though, Pusser added.
“We’re confident that the waiver option built into the resolution will provide significant protection for urban career scholars and others who are not in the position to take advantage of the [new resolution],” he said.
The policy will be reviewed after two years. The Faculty Senate then will compile a report for the Office of the Provost and University Faculty, according to the resolution.
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