Re: Copyright: Form, Content, and Prepublication Incarnations

From: Chris Korycinski <ck30_at_st-andrews.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 14:47:30 -0000

On 15 Nov 2003 at 18:27, Stevan Harnad wrote:

> On Wed, 22 Oct 2003, Dr.Vinod Scaria wrote:
>
>v> It is possible (this factor has not been monitored to date) that
>v> many researchers (those who are aware of the open access movement)
>v> are troubled by the possible copyright implications of open archives
>v> and access
>
> Fact: It is not only possible but certain that "many researchers are
> troubled by the possible copyright implications of open archives and
> access". They are troubled by this as well as by at least 27 other
> equally groundless worries (see end of message).
>

But the worries _are_ there & they are also stopping both researchers
and the university admin from supporting eprints in a wholehearted
way.

The questions I constantly come up against are (a) copyright - from
researchers; (b) copyright and the cost of maintaining the eprints
service - from admin.

In fact the costs are to an extent tied together with the copyright issues.
"We can't let copyright material appear in eprints, so we have to check
each one to make sure it is copyright-free, and this costs money as we
have to pay someone to do it". Self-archiving is not seen as realistic,
and for _some_ researchers this is undoubtedly true, which is why we
have put a 'let us archive it for you' link on the eprints home page.

I wonder, are these the real reasons for failing to support the
implementation of eprints, or just an excuse to leave matters well
alone?

Regards

Chris Korycinski

St Andrews eprints administrator, Main Library
===========================================
phone: external 01334 462302 : internal x 2302
office hours: 9-5 Tue & Wed. 9-12 Th.
Received on Tue Nov 18 2003 - 14:47:30 GMT