The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, US, has announced that from 2008, students and faculty will be able to use its Digital Library of Technical Papers in academic settings without the current restrictions. As recommended by a special task force, the SAE International Publications Board voted recently to eliminate the use of the 'FileOpen' plug-in on digital library products for licensees at colleges, universities and other academic institutions.
Composed of university professors, librarians, publications board members and staff publishing professionals, the Special DRM Task Force was mandated to make recommendations to improve the "ease-of-use" of the Society's Digital Library of Technical Papers in academic settings. This group concluded that the special information needs of students and faculty members would be best served in a more open environment.
In academia, use of the SAE digital library of technical papers without FileOpen restrictions will be introduced in the first quarter of 2008.
The FileOpen form of digital rights management was applied on certain SAE information products for nearly two years. Some in the academic community had concern that the model limited full and easy access to valuable literature and knowledge. The plug-in controls placed limits on downloading, printing, e-mailing and file-sharing options available to the user. Specific controls are set by the publisher.
More News in this Theme
