Harvard’s DASH for open access – Harvard Gazette (August 2009)

"Harvard took a DASH toward opening access to its scholarship this week (Aug. 31).

DASH stands for Digital Access to Scholarship. It’s an open-access repository of scholarly works administered by the University Library. So far, more than 350 members of the Harvard research community take part, including more than a third of scholars in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS).

“DASH is meant to promote openness in general,” said Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and director of the University Library. “It will make the current scholarship of Harvard’s faculty freely available everywhere in the world.”

He compared DASH to Harvard’s current digitizing of books in its library system, making titles accumulated since the 17th century accessible worldwide.

“These and other projects,” said Darton, “represent a commitment by Harvard to share its intellectual wealth.”

Visitors to DASH can locate, read, and use some of the most up-to-the-minute scholarship Harvard has to offer — more than 1,500 items....

In legal terms, each participating faculty member grants DASH users nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit.

In addition, faculty members are committed to providing copies of their manuscripts for distribution, an action the DASH repository enables.

The policy was written by OSC Director Stuart M. Shieber, Harvard’s James O. Welch Jr. and Virginia B. Welch Professor of Computer Science. It marked a groundbreaking shift from simply encouraging scholars to consider open access to creating a pro-open-access policy with an “opt-out” clause...."