Asking for Permission: A Survey of Copyright Workflows for Institutional Repositories

"Many institutional repositories (IRs) provide open access to published work. The authors of those works typically transfer copyright or exclusive distribution rights for their work to their publisher. This means the author cannot themselves grant permission for deposit in the IR; rather permissions must be secured from the publisher. In Fall 2009, the authors conducted a survey of institutional repository managers to gain a clearer understanding of the staffing, resources, activities and tools employed to clear copyright for published work, with the intent to deposit into an IR. This poster summarizes preliminary findings...." [PS: Authors can retain the rights they need; universities like Harvard and funders like NIH have policies to require this.]