University of California Academic Council Statement on the

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, ACADEMIC SENATE

BERKELEY

• DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO

SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ

James Steintrager Chair of the Assembly of the Academic Senate

Telephone:(510) 987-9983 Faculty Representative to the Regents

Email: james.steintrager@ucop.edu University of California

1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor

Oakland, California 94607-5200

May 7, 2024

University of California Academic Council Statement on the

University Libraries’ Negotiations with Publishers Regarding Fair Use,

Text and Data Mining, and Artificial Intelligence Usage Rights

At its April 24 meeting, the Academic Council of the University of California Academic Senate,

the chief executive body of faculty governance across all ten UC campuses, unanimously

endorsed the following statement on the UC Libraries’ Negotiations with Publishers Regarding

Fair Use, Text and Data Mining, and Artificial Intelligence Usage Rights. The statement was

developed and proposed by the University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication

(UCOLASC).

The Academic Council of the Academic Senate of the University of California (UC) hereby

communicates its commitment to support the UC Libraries’ negotiating position to preserve

fair use rights when licensing electronic resources—including the fair use rights to conduct

computational research and utilize artificial intelligence tools in academic studies and

scholarship. Preserving fair use in research and teaching will protect UC scholars’ abilities

to make discoveries that further the pursuit of knowledge.

Background to the Statement

UCOLASC’s 2018 Declaration of Rights and Principles to Transform Scholarly Communication,

endorsed by the Academic Council, emphasizes the importance of protecting the fair use

exception to copyright for research, educational, and scholarly purposes, and for protecting fair

use rights in negotiations with publishers.

Since the declaration six years ago, publishers have increasingly attempted to restrict fair use

through library license agreements. Some seek to impose additional fees for or preclude

altogether fair use activities, such as employing text and data mining in computational research

or the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research. Such restrictions can impede freedom of

inquiry, exacerbate bias in research, and amplify the perspectives of a narrow group of creators

due to limited research materials. Moreover, these restrictions put UC researchers at a

disadvantage compared to colleagues in other countries such as those within the European

Union, where contracts cannot nullify copyright exceptions for research. The Academic Council

strongly supports the UC Libraries’ efforts to preserve fair use exception rights when licensing