We describe the "Fair Dealing Button," a feature designed for authors who
have deposited their papers in an Open Access Institutional Repository but have
deposited them as "Closed Access" (meaning only the metadata are visible and
retrievable, not the full eprint) rather than Open Access. The Button allows
individual users to request and authors to provide a single eprint via
semi-automated email. The purpose of the Button is to tide over research usage
needs during any publisher embargo on Open Access and, more importantly, to
make it possible for institutions to adopt the
"Immediate-Deposit/Optional-Access" Mandate, without exceptions or opt-outs,
instead of a mandate that allows delayed deposit or deposit waivers, depending
on publisher permissions or embargoes (or no mandate at all). This is only
"Almost-Open Access," but in facilitating exception-free immediate-deposit
mandates it will accelerate the advent of universal Open Access.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 32 references. To appear in "Dynamic Fair
Dealing: Creating Canadian Culture Online" (Rosemary J. Coombe & Darren
Wershler, Eds.