Partnering on Copyright

Why Open Access is important

Making research as widely available as possible is of great benefit to everyone, from academics and their employing institutions to the general public. Access to research output is being revolutionised through their deposit in an Open Access (OA) environment. It is, therefore, very important that librarians and institutional repository (IR) managers have a good overall knowledge of the OA concept, including IRs and copyright, and are familiar with its issues in relation to both academic authors and HEI managers.

In order to gain an awareness and understanding of the key issues click on the appropriate links above.

Open Access and advocacy

Whether you are considering the creation of an IR or have been managing one for some time, you have a vital ongoing role to play in advocacy, in encouraging deposit, take-up and use, and facilitating the deposit of material, even from the more reluctant authors. You should also feel able to advise your various stakeholders on the copyright issues surrounding deposit of articles in a repository.

This section of the site comprises of both information documents and a 'Know Your Rights' advocacy toolkit, and will help you to:

• Market the development of an IR effectively
• Make sure the IR is populated and used
• Support those users who need advice on how to approach self-archiving and on copyright issues
• Get more information and advice on all these issues

Next