New SPARC discussion forum to address author rights

[Jennifer McLennan <jennifer@arl.org>]

For Immediate Release
February 5, 2008

For more information, contact:
Jennifer McLennan
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 ext 121

NEW SPARC DISCUSSION FORUM TO ADDRESS AUTHOR RIGHTS

List to help libraries navigate copyright, support authors in a
changing environment

Washington, DC -- February 5, 2008 -- SPARC (the Scholarly
Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has introduced a new
discussion forum on the topic of author rights. The SPARC Author
Rights Forum provides a private and moderated venue for academic
librarians to explore copyright and related issues in teaching
and research =AD especially questions arising from the development
of digital repositories and recent public access mandates.

The SPARC Author Rights Forum has been established to support
educational outreach to authors on issues related to retaining
their copy rights. Topics relevant to the list include, but are
not limited to:

* Ensuring copyright compliance with public access policies,
including the new National Institutes of Health mandate

* Rights of faculty under copyright and contract law

* Availability and use of author addenda

* Working with publishers to secure agreements to retain needed
rights

* Experiences in developing institutional copyright policies and
educational programs

The list will focus primarily on the U.S. and Canadian legal
environments, though members of the international community are
welcome to join. Educators, researchers, policy makers,
librarians, legal counsel, and all who have an interest in
responsible author copyright management are encouraged to
contribute. The SPARC Author Rights Forum is moderated by Kevin
Smith, J.D., Scholarly Communications Officer for Duke University
Libraries.

List membership is subject to approval and posts are moderated
for appropriate topical content. To request membership in the
SPARC Author Rights Forum, send any message to sparc-arforum-feed@arl.org.

For details on other SPARC discussion lists, visit
http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/emailsignup.html. For more detail
on SPARC=B9s Author Rights program, please visit
http://www.arl.org/sparc/author.

##

SPARC

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition),
with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance
of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to
create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's
advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs
encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web
at http://www.arl.org/sparc/.

--------------------------
Jennifer McLennan
Director of Communications
SPARC
(The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition)
http://www.arl.org/sparc
(202) 296-2296 ext 121
jennifer@arl.org