Creative Commons and Open Access in an Academic Library: Implementation, Tools, Policy and Education

Abstract: An important task for libraries today is to support scholars in the creation, sharing, and preservation of knowledge. Libraries and librarians ensure the application of appropriate practices in copyright in their institutions and help faculty, students and researchers to navigate the research lifecycle, providing education and outreach to diverse university audiences, including faculty, students, post-doctoral students, visiting researchers, and staff, answering questions about copyright, offering information about open access publishing options, developing and maintaining open access repositories and policies, and providing information on grant requirements that may govern how published research is disseminated. The focus of this chapter is Creative Commons (CC) and open access (OA) to research in the context of the academic library. The knowledge required by librarians in their roles as guides and supporters of scholarly authors is described. The chapter outlines details of the publishing process, the importance of sharing knowledge, the significance of rights retention for researchers, and shows how CC works alongside limitations and exceptions to copyright. Various aspects of CC licensing, including the types available, and categories of OA are explored. Aspects of the operation of CC in relation to flourishing research practices such as text and data mining are discussed and contemporary challenges of using CC-licensed databases of images in facial recognition research highlighted. The chapter describes how CC licenses and tools are leveraged within the academic library. While the chapter emphasizes the roles of academic librarians and provides examples within academic libraries, the knowledge presented, and approaches given can be applied in other types of libraries.