ETD Release Policies in American ARL Institutions: A Preliminary Study Brian Surratt ETD 2005 Sydney, Australia Sept. 30, 2005

Agenda Introduction Research question Method of study Intellectual property issues Stakeholders Release policies at ARL libraries Conclusion

Introduction Despite sharing similar operational contexts, there is anecdotal evidence that we have failed to develop our ETD release policies in a sufficient and consistent manner and that these failures have potentially negative consequences for institutions that accept ETDs as well as the greater ETD community. This paper will describe the results of a preliminary analysis of ETD release policies and will suggest areas for research and action in the ETD community.

Research question Question: To determine if existing release polices are sufficient to meet the needs of stakeholders in the ETD community A number of narrower questions were analysed: –First, considering that questions of intellectual property are involved, what is the relevant law that pertains to ETD collections? –Second, who are the stakeholders in the ETD community and what are their needs? –Third, what are the characteristics of current ETD release policies at individual universities? –Fourth, are these policies meeting the needs of the stakeholders?

Method of study The research question was analyzed by reviewing the existing literature and ETD release policies posted on publicly accessible web sites of members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The population was limited to American institutions in order to limit the study to a single legal jurisdiction. The study analysed libraries which currently accept and host born-digital ETDs. Because the study was oriented towards universities which host their own collections, universities which have a hosting arrangement with ProQuest were not included in the study.

Universities evaluated Boston CollegePennsylvania State University Libraries Brigham Young UniversityTexas A&M University Libraries Case Western Reserve UniversityTexas Tech University Libraries Cornell UniversityUniversity of Cincinnati Libraries Florida State University LibraryUniversity of Florida George Washington UniversityUniversity of Georgia Georgia Institute of TechnologyUniversity of Kentucky Kent State University LibrariesUniversity of Missouri - Columbia Louisiana State UniversityUniversity of Notre Dame Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUniversity of Pittsburgh North Carolina State UniversityUniversity of Tennessee - Knoxville Northwestern University LibraryUniversity of Texas - Austin Ohio State UniversityVanderbilt University Ohio UniversityVirginia Tech

Access levels Open access: perpetual free access to ETDs without requiring user authentication Restricted: access limited to a specific population, such as students and faculty on a certain campus or those who have paid a subscription fee Withheld: ETDs which are completely restricted from all public view, usually to allow for patent application or copyright protection in the case of prior or intended commercial publication Duration: pre-arranged expirations on an access level, resulting in a reclassification to new, less- restrictive access level.

Intellectual Property Issues Copyright considerations –U. S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 –Title 17 of the U. S. Code Patent considerations Security considerations –PATRIOT Act Privacy considerations

Stakeholders Graduate students Faculty The university Commercial publishers

ACS Policy

Release policies Communication of policies –25 provide information on a web site –3 were unknown Implementation of policies –15 use a printable form –6 use a web-based form –7 were not known

Terms used for access levels Open access –Open access, open communities, world wide access, unrestricted access, freely available, release to web, general access, and immediate public distribution Restricted access –Restricted access, available to the university, release to campus, and university only Withheld –Delayed release, hold, no release, restricted access, secured, embargoed, withheld, closed community, and sequestered

Categories of access levels Category 1: General non-exclusive right to reproduce Category 2: Open access only Category 3: Open access or withhold for limited duration Category 4: Open access, restricted, and withhold Category 5: Restricted or withheld for limited duration Category 6: Unknown

Summary of release policies Categories of release policiesNumber 1: General non-exclusive right to reproduce1 2: "Open access" only1 3: "Open access" or "withhold" for limited duration 11 4: “Open access,” “restricted,” and “withhold” 10 5: “Restricted” and “withhold” for limited duration 1 6: Unknown release policy4

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Conclusion Implications Recommendations Areas of future research Questions?