Scholarly Communication at Texas A&M

Our University community is home to many distinguished TAMU faculty members who have, over the years, written textbooks and other important monographs for academic and scholarly audiences. With the passage of time, some of these titles have gone out of print and are no longer readily available to potential readers. Certain that demand still exists for such works, their authors have reclaimed the rights once transferred to publishers. These authors are, in effect, ‘re-publishing’ their works via open access using today’s digital and Internet technologies. In this way, TAMU authors are extending the reach and impact of their works to serve new audiences worldwide.

One example of this open access republishing trend is the work of Dr. Ray M. Bowen, Professor and President Emeritus of Texas A&M. Thanks to Dr. Bowen’s efforts to reclaim the rights to his previously published works, three books previously sold under the imprint of Plenum Press have now been freely republished in the Texas A&M Digital Repository (Dr. Bowen’s digital collection is online at http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/2500.) These titles now see wide usage from around the world.

If a TAMU author believes that demand exists for his or her out-of-print publication, s/he is encouraged to explore whether the rights to that work can revert back to the author. Historically, the standard language in book contracts required that authors transfer to the publisher the right to reproduce the work and the right to distribute copies of the work to the public. Such contracts also contained a reversion of rights clause by which the publisher’s rights terminated if/when the book went out of print.

Authors wishing to pursue a reversion of their rights need to check the original publishing contract, if available, to see if an appropriate clause was included. It may be necessary to write to the publisher’s rights and permissions department to clarify the procedure for reclaiming reverted rights.

Once rights have reverted to an author, s/he is invited to digitally republish the work via the Texas A&M Digital Repository. There is no cost to the author or the users for this service, and it provides an easy and effective way to extend the life of the work for many years to come.

Information about submitting works to the Texas A&M Repository is available online or by contacting the Libraries’ Digital Services & Scholarly Communication Office at digital@library.tamu.edu

In Washington D.C. tomorrow, an interesting cross-section of American citizenry will gather at the Newseum to celebrate a particular legal principle found in Section 107, Title 17 of the U. S. Code. Known more popularly as “the Doctrine of Fair Use”, this section of US Copyright law outlines conditions under which copyrighted works may be used, without permission of the copyright owner, for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

The First Annual World’s Fair Use Day (WFUD) is sponsored by Public Knowledge, a consumer rights advocacy group well known for its coverage of copyright policy. The day-long event is designed to bring together policymakers, artists, academics, entrepreneurs, journalists and consumer advocates to listen, watch, and learn from speeches and panel discussions, presentations, videos, films, music, and multimedia mash-ups that underscore the importance of Fair Use for creative culture, scholarship, innovation and learning.

Those outside the DC area can join in the program in a number of ways:

• Check out the event web site at http://worldsfairuseday.org/Worlds_Fair_Use_Day/Worlds_Fair_Use_Day.html
• Watch the live web stream, which will run from 9 am - 4 pm EST (stay tuned to wfud.info)
• Download and read the cool “Party Pack” which contains lots of great ideas for celebrating WFUD today, tomorrow, or whenever you want to express your love of Fair Use!

Among the presenters taking part in tomorrow’s World Fair Use Day are:

Terri Bays, from the OpenCourseWare Initiative

Dan Walsh, creator of the “Garfield Minus Garfield” web comic;

Machinima artist Chris Burke discusses, who uses fair use to produce his popular Internet Talk Show in Gamespace, This Spartan Life;

Lincoln Bandlow, an attorney who invoked the doctrine of fair use in the case Jackson Browne vs. John McCain to defend the Republican’s use of the song “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad without permission (the case was ultimately settled).

This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” (more…)