Re: L.Rev (C) Release

On 11/08/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> Realistically speaking, the paragraphs look to me like
> boilerplate that is discounted by the preemptive release.
>
> LSU, like most universities, sponsors very little research.
> It is really dependent on the goodwill connected with its
> faculty and _their_ publications to bring grants -- not the
> other way around. When the researcher leaves, he/she takes
> that goodwill away. Aside from its library, a university's
> main intellectual asset goes home every night.

They may well be boilerplate, but you will notice they say nothing about releasing copyright on software. Any software I create on the job at LSU does not go home at night, or leave with me if I seek employment elsewhere. The University has rules for sharing any commercial profits on such creations, but they do not include giving me the copyright on created software. A look at <http://www.inform.umd.edu/CompRes/NEThics/copyown/policies/> will show such policies are quite common.

I guess it depends on what you call research. My three books were written on University time without outside support. About half my publications result from external funding to some degree, but the other half were fully on University time. This is certainly not the case in the hard sciences where big money is both needed and available, but in the social sciences and the humanities, where we second class citizens work, the University sponsers a great deal of something that we would like to think of as research.

The University has a commitment to providing its faculty with access to information, which goes far beyond the physical library collection. And this massive and expensive infrastructure does not go home at night either, although the faculty can normally reach it from their homes. This access provision is just as much an intellectual asset as the physical library collection.

BRB Bert R. Boyce, Professor & Dean
School of Library & Information Science
Louisiana State University
267 Coates Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

     (225)388-3158
FAX: (225)388-4581
LSBOYC[_at_]lsu.edu Received on Tue Nov 09 1999 - 15:13:32 GMT