As submitted to the Senate Agenda Committee on 8 May 2012 by Mark Jones, Faculty Senator for Arts and Science, for inclusion on the Agenda for 22 May.
Given that the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has signed an agreement with Access Copyright on a model copying-license to cover the reproduction of paper and digital content on university campuses;
Given that the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has condemned this model licensing agreement for reasons including excessive fees to students, invasive provisions for surveillance, and a definition of copying (including “posting a link or hyperlink to a digital copy”) that is in defiance of “the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling (Crookes v. Newton) that hyperlinks do not constitute the communication or publishing of content” (CAUT, “A Bad Deal: AUCC/Access Copyright Model License Agreement,” 17 April 2012); and
Given that Queen’s University Librarians and Archivists (QULA) have also written to urge Queen’s Provost and University Librarian “not to sign on to the copyright agreement negotiated between the Association of University and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and Access Copyright” (QULA Letter of 7 May 2012),
I move that Senate endorse the statements by CAUT and QULA on this matter; and
that it urge Queen’s Administration and University Librarian not to sign with Access Copyright for the many good and persuasive reasons enumerated by CAUT and QULA in these statements.
