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Second Town Meeting: Wednesday, January 20, 1999, 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., Poe Hall 216 Third Town Meeting: Tuesday, February 16, 1999, 12:15 to 2:30 p.m., North Theater, College of Veterinary Medicine
Are you involved in developing on-line or distance education course materials? If so, who will own the copyrights to those materials? Who will be able to use those materials should you move to another institution in the future? Have you ever signed a copyright transfer form before publishing a journal article? Do you, or your colleagues at other universities, have a need to use your published journal articles for teaching or research? Should published journal articles written by professors be freely available for use in teaching and research by other professors? More and more campuses across the country are addressing these questions and other related issues. It is time for North Carolina State University and its faculty to do so as well. Why have a meeting about copyright issues? North Carolina State University generates a wealth of scholarly writings and copyrightable materials in fulfilling its mission of teaching, research, and public service. Faculty authors frequently transfer copyright to their journal articles to the publisher. Within the past twenty years, for-profit publishers have, through this system, come to dominate much of the scientific and technological literature. Their for-profit motives and practices conflict with education's legitimate rights, needs, and uses of the copyrighted materials. Spiralling acquisitions costs for journal subscriptions have forced university libraries to curtail purchases of new materials. Additionally, other legitimate research and teaching uses of the materials produced by faculty are often restricted or at best come with a price. The digital environment in which we now find ourselves presents newopportunities for educators, extension workers and researchers to create and disseminate an expanded range of course materials, scholarly works, and research results. As with print serials, commercial publishers are interested in developing and marketing these digital creations and holding copyrights to those materials. This raises the specter of a scholarly communication crisis in both the digital and print arenas. North Carolina State University is ethically obligated to assert an interest in and carefully manage these valuable assets, which are frequently created with substantial use of state resources, to benefit the citizens of the state and the university. The university is obligated to control the association of its name and reputation with these works as well as to ensure the continued integrity of the work. In response to a request from the Office of the Provost, the Scholarly Communication Subcommittee of the University Library Committee recommended that NC State establish a Copyright Ownership Task Force. Provost Phillip Stiles and Charles Moreland (Vice Chancellor for Research, Outreach, Extension, and Economic Development) recently appointed David Danehower (Crop Science) and Ross Whetten (Forestry) to co-chair the task force. Its charge is to review university copyright policies and recommend revisions if and as appropriate to enhance the creative works of members of our academic community and to ensure that these works will be managed in a manner that will benefit the authors, the university, and the citizens of North Carolina. In order to fulfill this charge, it is imperative that the interests and concerns of faculty in all disciplines be determined through their active participation. In support of the Copyright Ownership Task Force, the Scholarly Communication Subcommittee is undertaking Copyright Ownership Town Meetings. These meetings will be an opportunity for faculty to learn about copyright and its issues and to voice their views and needs. Departments, colleges or other interested groups are invited to host a Town Meeting. Additional information on the Copyright Ownership Task Force is available on its website at http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/governance/task_forces/COTF/ If you are interested in hosting a Copyright Ownership Town Meeting, please contact Ross Whetten or David Danehower at rosswhet@unity.ncsu.edu or david_danehower@ncsu.edu __________________________________ |
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Last Updated: 10/15/98