Derechos de autor y ciencia abierta: el papel de la biblioteca universitaria

Abstract

There has been an increase of conflicts between university faculty and students inrelation to copyright in the last years due to the development of the open accessmovement and open science. Several questions have been raised on copyright and itsimpact on the use of scientific articles and the work of graduate students: What rightsare transferred to the publisher and which ones are reserved for the author? What arethe storage conditions of digital repositories? Who holds the rights and what are thepossibilities of publication of the doctoral dissertations? However, as several studiesshow, it is usual that neither faculty nor students have the knowledge to answer thesequestions, which not only causes the infringement of rights, but also the refusal toparticipate in open science activities for fear of having legal problems. Given thissituation, some academic libraries are taking advantage of their strategic position toassume a new key role in the training, support, and advise of their users in relation tothis area. The present paper analyzes the possibilities of academic libraries tocontribute to an adequate development of open science by supporting and advising theacademic community on copyright issues. To achieve this, we outline the necessaryprofessional skills and the basic services that libraries should offer to their users so thecopyright law and its related questions are not an obstacle to the proper promotion anddevelopment of open science.