NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – As artificial intelligence reshapes higher education, University of Oklahoma faculty are asking timely questions: Who controls access to my scholarship? What happens when AI trains on my work without permission?
To explore these issues, University Libraries will host Colleen Cressman, Harvard librarian for Open Publishing, Open Scholarship and Research Data Services, for a faculty presentation at noon on Nov. 13 in the Bizzell Memorial Library Community Room, LL118. Lunch will be provided and registration is required through the event registration page.
The presentation, titled “OA Policies and Author Agency in the Age of AI,” will examine how university open access policies support authors in a changing scholarly landscape.
Cressman will discuss how open access policies help faculty retain control over their work while also expanding the reach of research across disciplines. The policies not only strengthen author rights but also encourage broader participation in scholarship by removing barriers for readers worldwide.
“Faculty are often concerned about their research being harvested by AI bots or sold by publishers for the purposes of training large language models,” said Jessica Davila, associate dean for digital strategies and innovation at OU Libraries. “Colleen has a decade of experience helping scholars leverage open access policies for rights retention even as these new technologies emerge. She understands both the opportunities and the complexities and that’s exactly the kind of conversation we want to foster here at OU.”
Davila says that OU’s open access policy, now in its first year of implementation, was modeled after Harvard’s. “Harvard was one of the first institutions in the country to adopt an open access policy back in 2008 and they have been a leader ever since. They have nearly 20 years of experience and we look to them as a model,” she said. “Colleen works directly with faculty on rights-retention and author agreements, so her expertise will be invaluable as our faculty navigate their own choices.”
The event is not about convincing faculty one way or another but about making space for thoughtful discussion. “There is no single answer here. On one hand, open access democratizes knowledge and broadens impact. On the other, we hear concerns about AI training on scholarship without permission. We want OU faculty to understand what tools, rights and support are available to them,” she said.
The Nov. 13 event is open to OU faculty, researchers and instructors on the Norman campus, and anyone covered under the university’s open access policy.
University Libraries plans to host a faculty panel in spring 2026 to expand the conversation, with perspectives from classics, biology, law and other fields. “We know this cannot be a one-time discussion,” Davila said. “This is an ongoing dialogue and Colleen’s visit will help OU launch that conversation in a meaningful way.”
Visit SHAREOK at shareok.org/home. SHAREOK is the joint repository for OU and the University of Central Oklahoma. Digital assets placed in the repository are available to a global audience. It includes work such as digital theses and dissertations, faculty publications and open access publications.
Read more about the open access policy.
For more information, email the Open Initiatives and Scholarly Communications unit at scholarlycommunication@ou.edu or phone 405-325-5761.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
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