Academic Librarian Assistance with U.S. Federal Public Access Policies

• Type of Material: Presentation
• Authors: Jody Bailey, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2026-06-05
• Publisher: Emory University Libraries
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2026 Jody Bailey
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Conference or Event Name: 2026 University Information Policy Officers Annual Meeting
• Place of Publication or Presentation: New Haven, Connecticut, United States
• Keywords: public access policies, library research, scholarly communications
• Subject - Topics: Library research; Communication in learning and scholarship; Grantmaking; Scholarly publishing
• Research Categories: Library science

Abstract

This research was presented at the 2026 University Information Policy Officers Annual Meeting (a copyright librarian conference) in June 2026. It provides an overview of U.S. federal public access policies as they existed at that time. It also provides preliminary results of a survey of U.S. academic librarians focused on how they are attempting to assist researchers on their campus with the new compliance requirements of U.S. public access policies. This study was reviewed by an IRB ethics committee at Emory University to ensure the protection of research participants. Preliminary takeaways from the research are as follows: (1) Respondents (N = 133) report that researchers seem confused and anxious about the policies. (2) Librarians are having difficulty helping researchers understand their options in a highly complex landscape. (3) Librarians are reluctant to advise researchers to rely on the federal purpose license to share an author accepted manuscript (AAM) in the funder's designated repository as required by federal policies if they publish under the no-fee, non-open-access model and their publisher’s policy disallows immediate sharing of the AAM. (4) Some librarians are unaware of the federal purpose license. (5) It is unclear at this time how the newly proposed OMB Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance issued 29 May 2026 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/29/2026-10817/regulation-for-federal-financial-assistance) will affect U.S. federal public access policies. In the near future, more in-depth data analysis is planned, especially examining how respondents' demographic factors interact with their opinions (e.g., are librarians at private universities more conservative in advising researchers?). Once that process is complete, the research will likely be formally published as a peer-reviewed journal article.