General information

Should LITA oppose Elsevier’s new sharing policy?

It’s come to the LITA Board’s attention that the Confederation of Open Access Repositories is circulating a statement against Elsevier’s new sharing policy. (You can find that policy here.) COAR is concerned that the policy imposes long embargoes for open access content (up to 4 years); applies retroactively; and restricts author’s choice of Creative Commons license. Numerous individuals and library organizations, including ALA and ACRL, have signed on to this statement; the LITA Board is discussing doing likewise.

But we represent you, the members! So tell us what you think. Should LITA sign on?

5 comments

  1. Craig Boman

    Yes. Please oppose.

  2. Robert E. Lucore

    Yes. Please sign on and oppose this new “sharing” policy, which is actually about not sharing.

  3. Michael Rodriguez

    Absolutely LITA should declare its opposition to Elsevier’s restrictive new policies.

  4. Richard James (@DElibrarian)

    No. Authors are free to choose to publish in a journal that best reflects their interests and beliefs.

  5. Andromeda Yelton

    Thank you to everyone who commented, here and elsewhere! By way of an update:

    The overwhelming majority of feedback we received across a variety of channels, private and public, opposed this policy and supported LITA’s signing on to the statement. This mirrored the tone of the discussion among the Board, and we’ve voted to sign on.

    There are some LITA members who do not support signing on to the statement as well, and I appreciate your willingness to disagree and engage in debate; we are all better off for having multiple points of view represented.

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