A story this week in The Harvard Crimson is headlined: Motion To Allow Free Online Access To All Harvard Articles details the move:
While its ways are sometimes criticized as opaque, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences took a big step towards openness yesterday, passing a motion that will allow Harvard to freely distribute scholarly articles produced by FAS professors.
The motion, which passed easily at yesterday’s Faculty meeting, grants Harvard a non-exclusive copyright over all articles produced by any current Faculty member, allowing for the creation of an online repository that would be “available to other services such as web harvesters, Google Scholar, and the like.”
Professors can still submit a written request to waive the application of the policy and maintain control of their copyright even if the policy is applied, allowing them to have the articles published in scholarly journals.
Robert Darnton ’60, director of the University library, emphasized the motion’s importance in opening up Harvard’s resources.
In a Crimson article last October 31st announcing Darton’s appointment as the new library director, he was quoted as wanting to “move into the world of digitized information” and to “shape the scholarly landscape in flux, and make it happen for the public good.” He emphasized at that time that “libraries are not ‘warehouses of printed paper,’ but ‘dynamic cultural centers.’” This article in the New York Times anticipated the vote.
