Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Releases Updated Canadian Author Addendum and New Author Rights Guide

From CARL:

CARL is pleased to announce the release of three resources supporting awareness of authors’ rights and ways to retain key rights during the publication process.

The revised Canadian Author Addendum to Publication Agreement is a tool that can be used by authors to negotiate with publishers for the right to retain important rights, such as the ability to share and reuse their work – including the ability to make their work available to all via an open access repository. The accompanying CARL Guide to Using the Canadian Author Addendum provides practical straightforward guidance on how to use the addendum.

The CARL Guide to Author Rights seeks to situate use of the addendum within the broader context of copyright and ownership of scholarly works, including how rights retention can be taken into consideration at each stage of the publication lifecycle. This guide may assist both authors and librarians in knowing when and how to use the addendum as well as informing a broader understanding of author rights as they pertain to the creation and dissemination of academic research.

Please note that editable versions of these documents are also available.

Summary of Revisions to the Author Addendum
Based on feedback from member institutions and a recognition that authors increasingly need to retain more of their rights when publishing in order to comply with funder open access policies such as the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications, and to ensure the widest distribution of their works, CARL undertook a detailed analysis and revision of the Canadian Author Addendum (originally adapted in 2007 from the SPARC Author Addendum to Publisher Agreement). The aim was to ensure it reflected the current Canadian copyright context.

The revised addendum includes two notable changes: inclusion of a clause acknowledging prior non-exclusive license grants to authors’ institutions or funders through open access policies (this clause has been part of the SPARC Author Addendum for several years), and expansion of the addendum in order for it to be used in both article and book chapter publishing agreement negotiations.

Acknowledgements
This guide is the results of the efforts of the Author Addendum and Author Rights Task Group: Lise Brin (CARL), Rosarie Coughlan (Queen’s University), Roger Gillis (Dalhousie University), Stephanie Savage (University of British Columbia), and Jennifer Zerkee (Simon Fraser University), under the guidance of CARL’s Advancing Research Committee. Many thanks to those in the Canadian and international library and scholarly communication community who offered valuable insight and feedback.

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