In the midst of a university budget crunch, Access Services has a cost-saving suggestion.
At the University Senate Agenda Committee meeting Monday, Matthew Shaw, head of Access Services, suggested allowing Open Access for scholarly and artistic material produced by the Ball State University community.
According to a summary of the Open Access Mandate Proposal, budgetary constraints make published research more inaccessible.
"A very real scholarly communications crisis is looming as universities have fewer dollars to dedicate to growing and sustaining collection," Shaw said in the report.
Scholarly material created by faculty is available through an institutional repository called Cardinal Scholar.
"The policy would strengthen an initiative to put things in the repository," Shaw said. "If we had a mandate, we could be sure they'd be accessible."
Shaw said he wanted to make work by allowing free access for faculty in hopes that other universities would follow suit, cutting the amount Ball State would have to pay to access information.
Chairperson of Faculty Council Barry Umanski said this policy might be an infringement on contracts for many faculty members regarding copyright.
In most Open Access policies, the author grants the same rights to the university as it grants to the publishing journal. Shaw said the author retains all rights to his or her material and does not assign copyright to Ball State.
In a summary of the proposal, Shaw said several universities such as Harvard, Stanford and Kansas have successfully adopted Open Access mandates.
"I think we should include the provost and university stakeholders in the discussion," Shaw said. "It has real tangible rewards for faculty members."
The Information Technology Committee passed a motion to recommend an Open Access mandate. After some discussion, the Senate Agenda Committee decided to forward the proposal to the Library Committee and Publications and Intellectual Properties Committee for approval before moving it to the Senate floor for a final vote.
Other items were slated for the next University Senate meeting. Documentation regarding compensation for load credit and teaching responsibilities was approved by Faculty Council a few weeks ago, and was also approved by the Senate Agenda Committee Monday.
Policies for online graduate programs were previously accepted by the Faculty Council as a report, and the Senate Agenda Committee decided to bring it to the floor at the next Senate meeting as an announcement.
Chairperson Brien Smith said there was no proper place for the document in the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook, so no action was taken. He said it's more fitting to put in the back with the appendixes.
The last item of business was a presentation of resolutions that had been passed by the Student Senate in the past two years. Nicole Akey, president pro tempore of Student Government Association, said in the shuffle of various student representatives, presentation of resolutions had been neglected. Umanski suggested they route these ideas to the Student Activities Committee of Campus Council instead of the Senate Agenda Committee for better efficiency.
More Information:
Next Senate Agenda Committee meeting will be April 12.
Senate actions:
Items slated for vote at the University Senate meeting March 25:
-Documentation regarding compensation for load credit and teaching responsibilities- slated to be voted on by the University Senate
-Policies for School of Extended Education courses- routed to University Council and Facultty Council for further review
-Policies for online graduate programs- accepted as an announcement by University Senate
-Student Senate resolutions- routed to Campus Council
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