Generally, authors either publish material themselves or go through a publisher. Publishers have varying approaches to allowing authors to retain copyright and define terms for distribution and re-use. Make sure you are informed about any agreements you sign with publishers, and use author addendums to negotiate.
Traditional publication agreements can be quite restrictive in regards to distribution, e.g. an author uploading their work to an institutional repository or sharing it with their colleague. Author addendums are legal instruments that allow the author to retain more of these rights. Below are some resources that can assist authors in reaching an mutually beneficial arrangement with a publisher.
Visit the Copyright guides for general advice on copyright issues and compliance requirements around the teaching, research, and study activities of all Notre Dame staff and students.
Creative Commons (CC) is an internationally active non-profit organisation that works to make it easier to share, reuse, re-purpose and remix creative material. It does this by providing free licences that let creators give permission in advance for certain uses of their material.
Learn more in the Creative Commons pages of the Copyright guides.