Rights Retention and Repositories: Accelerating Global Progress

Abstract:  In the last couple of years in the UK there's been a not so quiet revolution in the adoption of institutional Rights Retention Policies (IRRPs) which has been gathering momentum. There are now 26 institutions with IRRPs now in place, with more planned. While Rights Retention is not new, it was pioneered in 2008 at Harvard, in the UK however, 2023 felt like a tipping point with statements and policies released at institutional, regional and national levels. The Rights Retention revolution is here. Authors rights are at the heart of the scholarly dissemination process. With the support, and leadership of research libraries we can ensure academia’s control of original copyrights becomes the new norm, enabling and protecting free and open access to research for the public good. How can our institutional repositories be best placed to support this new norm? The panel will explore the role that Institutional repositories (and their supporting infrastructure and services) can play in supporting Rights Retention, and in turn empowering authors and accelerating global scholarship.