The
University of California (UC) and Authors Alliance hosted an event on April 16, 2024 to
explore the deposit rights environment authors currently face and the role institutions can play supporting these rights, create deeper national awareness of rights issues related to the Federal purpose license, and discuss benefits of invoking the Federal purpose license. This event was co-sponsored by the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), the HBCU Library Alliance, the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation, the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC), and the Texas Digital Library (TDL).
To continue the momentum created by these discussions, organizations, institutions, and individuals interested in advocating for strong and explicit protections of authors rights to deposit are invited to sign on to a statement encouraging Federal agencies to more fully leverage the Federal purpose license in their public access plans, FAQs and other supporting documentation, and grant instruments. Doing so will provide grant recipients with a clear understanding of their obligations as authors, facilitate better compliance with funder requirements, and help realize “the benefits of federally funded research that the American public deserves” envisioned by the Nelson memo.
