Harvard Central Administration and University Research Centers
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/3874488
This community provides open access to material created by the university's administrative staff. All material in the repository is also harvested by search engines (such as Google Scholar) and Open Archives Initiative data harvesters.
Browse
Search Results
Publication “Beam Me a Book, Scotty” Virtual Access Rooms under Section 108 of the Copyright Act(2025-01) Courtney, KyleMany library and archive reading rooms mandate in-person visits, but this requirement often restricts access rather than enhancing it. Such limitations can be viewed as ableist, classist, and fundamentally at odds with the purpose of copyright, which is to “promote the progress of science and useful arts.” Libraries have historically been at the forefront of providing new modes of access by adopting new technologies to facilitate broader and easier access to preserved works. Unfortunately, these efforts have been hindered by restrictive interpretations of the rights granted to libraries under Section 108 of the Copyright Act—specifically, the notion that providing access to preserved works in digital formats violates the Act. This interpretation is unfounded. This paper launches the concept of Virtual Access Rooms (VARs) that are not only permissible under a proper reading of Section 108 but are also essential to the modern library’s mission. Knowledge should not be confined to physical spaces, and access to preserved works should not be contingent upon a patron's ability to visit such spaces. There is no legitimate basis for denying access to these works through physical location requirements. The solution offered in this paper is both straightforward and aligned with an accurate reading of the language of the section. It requires no amendments or updates. The language Congress chose in drafting Section 108 in the Copyright Act empowers libraries and archives to provide remote access to their collections via VARs because: (1) libraries and archives do not make digital works “available to the public” when they enable regulated, mitigated access for researchers and other approved patrons; and (2) in offering remote access, libraries and archives do not make such works available “outside the premises” of their institutions.Publication The T1D Fund: A Disruptive Philanthropic Model to Accelerate Cures(2024-11-21) Doherty, SeanIn 2015, despite decades of promising research and a large and passionate patient advocacy community, almost no companies were working on curing type one diabetes (T1D). Since then, there has been over USD800 million of venture investment in about 40 companies working on T1D cures, with several billion dollars more in public market investment and money invested to buy several of these companies. The first therapy that intervenes and delays progression of the disease was approved in 2022. This is the story of the transformation of the fight to cure a prevalent disease using an innovative philanthropic impact investing fund, born under the aegis of a public charity willing to take a risk and powered by over USD100 million of donations from just over 100 affected families. The T1D Fund, which launched in 2016, catalyzed a market to cure T1D and drove these dramatic developments. It may have cracked the code on perhaps one of the most vexing challenges facing disease philanthropies and research scientists across the country and around the world: what is the best way to accelerate the translation of promising research into potential drugs that can run the complicated and expensive gauntlet of our pharmaceutical sector and get delivered to patients? The T1D Fund model tailored its strategy to capitalize on the complementary strengths of different parts of the life sciences ecosystem. Disease philanthropies build unparalleled knowledge and network through the best research. But the private sector alone, both because overwhelming financial advantages and differentiated expertise, has the power to select and develop the drug candidates that present not only great science but also solid and attractive business potential. Our Fund developed a novel approach that navigated and joined these capabilities. It is working, and it offers a model and some lessons for other disease philanthropies seeking to drive the development of cures.Publication No One “Owns” That Metadata, Copyright, and the Problems with [Library] Vendor Agreements(2024-11) Courtney, Kyle; DeLaurenti, Kathleen; Kopel, Matthew; Zimmerman, KatieLibrarians focused on copyright and licensing from five institutions conducted research and analysis of peer institutional metadata policies, vendor agreements, and U.S. law in an effort to better understand the legal disposition of metadata created both locally by institutions and from partner institutions across the U.S. Based on our analysis, we assert that the vast majority of bibliographic metadata is simply not copyrightable. While there may be “thin” copyrightable material, institutions should release these records under a CC0 Public Domain Dedication to ensure the widest possible distribution to support research, aid in the dissemination of knowledge, and promote innovation. In this panel, we will review our findings, share our analysis, and make recommendations for libraries to openly share their metadata records.Publication Five-Year Vision for Stewardship of Born-Digital Content at Harvard Library(Harvard Library, 2023-09-14)With the proliferation of born-digital content, Harvard Library (HL) is at an inflection point. If the Library does not implement robust stewardship practices for these materials, it will be unable to honor commitments to donors and records creators, researchers, and students. Moreover, the Library could incur significant institutional and reputational risk from its inability to manage, preserve, and provide access over time to Harvard's institutional records and to the research, pedagogic, and cultural heritage assets acquired by Library units. In 2021, HL charged a Born-Digital Stewardship Working Group (BDSWG) to develop and implement strategy and an initiative for the stewardship of born-digital content managed by Harvard’s libraries. This content includes research and licensed data; digital scholarship output; special collections and archival materials; institutional records; course materials; and student and institute publications. The BDSWG collaborated across Harvard schools, departments, and library units to develop the Five-Year Vision for Stewardship of Born-Digital Content at Harvard Library. With this roadmap, HL can achieve a state of sustainable, programmatic stewardship of born-digital content by expanding the capabilities of its staff, systems, policies, and strategies for managing, acquiring, preserving, and providing access to born-digital content and records. Through these efforts, HL ensures that the born-digital content it stewards becomes—and remains—available for access and use by the Harvard and global communities.Publication Investing in Prevention: Collections Emergency Training at the Harvard Library(2018-09-28) Anderson, Priscilla; Telepak, LaurenHarvard University’s network of over seventy libraries experiences an average of ten collection emergencies each year. To prevent collection loss, reduce staff stress, and improve recovery outcomes, we have created broad-based emergency training for library staff at all levels. Our dynamic and comprehensive training program supports a centralized response team that is highly effective, and a community of library staff who are comfortable with initial response procedures and emergency planning. Bi-annual intensive, hands-on training consists of a mock water emergency with a variety of de-accessioned collection materials in which participants learn first-hand how to be aware of their own safety, communicate to initiate response action, take preemptive action to prevent further damage, and set up a salvage operation. Other training components include a collections emergency preparedness bench-marking workshop for library administrators and managers, hands-on collections salvage for curators and collection managers, format-specific identification and salvage for staff working with audiovisual materials, a one-hour basic emergency training for student workers, and tabletop exercises for local emergency teams to practice their emergency plans. Harvard Library Preservation Services staff coordinate the training sessions, and have created a number of publicly available resources to complement the training. We collaborate with a number of Harvard groups to ensure that sound best practices are employed, that communication and roles are as clear as possible, and that everyone is at the table to improve the content of the training. Library managers contribute deep understanding of the collection priorities and library staff needs. Harvard’s operations and facilities staff help us understand building response methods and how they coordinate emergency responders and contractors. Environmental health and safety staff inform best practices for safe emergency response. And everyone shares wisdom gained through experience, both the successes and the lessons learned. We hope this paper will allow other emergency teams to benefit from our mistakes and discoveries.Publication Brief of Amici Curiae Nine Library Organizations and 218 Librarians In Support of Defendant-Appellant Internet Archive(2023-12-22) Ziskina, Juliya; Courtney, KyleCDL is based in copyright law and respects the rights of copyright holders by acquiring the works legally, while also broadening access to the books that library systems purchase to build their collections. CDL is a well-established practice in the library community. It is a programmatic tool that represents a reasonable, productive, and viable pathway for libraries to focus on their traditional and well-established role in providing access to their acquired collections. The district court’s finding that books loaned via CDL would replace the market for commercially licensed eBooks was flawed. Books loaned via CDL have distinct features and purposes and are not a substitute for commercially licensed eBooks. The district court also erred in its finding that the Internet Archive’s Open Libraries program is a “commercial activity” for purposes of fair use. Instead, a library is a non-profit organization that provides access to knowledge and cultural heritage, which is the distinctly non-commercial mission of all libraries.Publication Rethinking Digital Preservation: Conceptual Foundations(2023-09-20) Abrams, StephenIn support of a multi-year initiative to revitalize its core digital preservation infrastructure, the Harvard Library is engaged in an open-ended exploration of an ideal system solution. The individual components of that ideal cohere into abstract functional and informational reference models, which act as aspirational benchmarks for requirements and subsequent procurement and deployment activities. The models are derived through the logical refinement of a small set of high-level axiomatic principles. These reflect a conceptualization of digital preservation as an inherently communicative enterprise with an ultimate goal of complementing the persistence of authentic digital information objects with that of opportunities for legitimate information experiences.Publication Fast and slow at the same time(ABEC Brasil, 2023-09-27) Suber, PeterOpen-access advocates should pursue fast and slow strategies at the same time. The primary long-term strategy discussed here is the reform of research culture to the point where institutions and individuals care more about the quality of research than where it is published.Publication Two Sides of a Coin: Individual and Institutional Support for Non-Cisgender LIS Professionals in Academic Institutions(Litwin Books, 2023-07-04) Fay, KaiPublication Global Surface Temperature Response to 11-Yr Solar Cycle Forcing Consistent with General Circulation Model Results(American Meteorological Society, 2021-04) Amdur, Ted; Stine, Alexander; Huybers, PeterThe 11-year solar-cycle is associated with a roughly 1 W m-2 trough-to-peak variation in total solar irradiance and is expected to produce a global temperature response. The amplitude of this response is, however, contentious. Empirical estimates of global surface temperature sensitivity to solar forcing range up to 0.18 K [W m-2]-1. In comparison, best estimates from general circulation models forced by solar variability range between 0.03-0.07 K [W m-2]-1, prompting speculation that physical mechanisms not included in general circulation models may amplify responses to solar variability. Using a lagged multiple linear regression method, we find a sensitivity of global- average surface temperature ranging between 0.02-0.09 K [W m-2]-1, depending on which predictor and temperature datasets are used. On the basis of likelihood maximization, we give a best estimate of the sensitivity to solar variability of 0.05 K [W m-2]-1 (0.03-0.09 K [W m-2]-1, 95% c.i.). Furthermore, through updating a widely-used compositing approach to incorporate recent observations, we revise prior global temperature sensitivity estimates of 0.12 to 0.18 K [W m-2]-1 downwards to 0.07 to 0.10 K [W m-2]-1. The finding of a most likely global temperature response of 0.05 K [W m-2]-1 supports a relatively modest role for solar cycle variability in driving global surface temperature variations over the 20th century and removes the need to invoke processes that amplify the response relative to that exhibited in general circulation mod els.