Harvard to collect, disseminate scholarly articles for faculty

Harvard to collect, disseminate scholarly articles for faculty
Legislation designed to allow greater worldwide access
By Robert Mitchell
FAS Communications
In a move to disseminate faculty research and scholarship more broadly, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) voted Tuesday (Feb. 12) to give the University a worldwide license to make each faculty member’s scholarly articles available and to exercise the copyright in the articles, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit.
In proposing the legislation, Stuart M. Shieber, a professor at FAS, said, “There is no question that scholarly journals have historically allowed scholars to distribute their research to audiences around the world. But, the scholarly publishing system has become far more restrictive than it need be. Many publishers will not even allow scholars to use and distribute their own work. And, the cost of journals has risen to such astronomical levels that many institutions and individuals have cancelled subscriptions, further reducing the circulation of scholars’ works.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/02.14/99-fasvote.html