The Boston Library Consortium’s Board of Directors approved unanimously the adoption of the “Agreement to Extend Author’s Rights,” a document that gives authors and their employing institutions non-exclusive rights to use, distribute, and reproduce material in electronic digital or print form in activities connected with the author’s academic and professional activities. The amendment also supports placement of material in institutional repositories. The agreement, initially developed by MIT, a Consortium member, is available for downloading at the BLC website: www.blc.org.

This tool will be used by member libraries to raise author awareness on their respective campuses. This document, offered as an attachment, will provide an easy way for authors to secure their rights. The BLC will work with its members to encourage use of this document.

Board President Cathy Norton notes: “This will show our solidarity with our authors and help them gain control of their intellectual property rights in the digital library. The Consortium’s adoption of this agreement demonstrates to libraries and publishers that we care about the output of our institutions by preserving it at the local level and making it openly accessible for students and researchers.”

The Consortium is an association of 19 academic and research libraries founded in 1970. Members include: Boston College, Boston Public Library, Boston University, Brandeis University, Brown University, MIT, Marine Biological Lab/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Northeastern University, State Library of Massachusetts, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and University of Massachusetts Medical Center, University of Connecticut, University of New Hampshire, Wellesley College, and Williams College.

Agreement to Extend Author's Rights (in Microsoft Word format)

Agreement to Extend Author's Rights (in Adobe Acrobat format)