Copyright and Digital Libraries and Open Access, Oh My!
Copyright is such a large issue, and has been covered in so many ways, that it has actually been a challenge for me when it comes to narrowing it down to one single element in order to focus on a discussion. With my presentation last week, I focused on the idea of the use of copyright and the digital library, further focusing on how digital libraries are affected by copyright issues when it comes to digitizing materials that are originally in print form. Those who are in charge of making digital copies of print materials may be considered to be infringing copyright in that they are making duplicates of a work for the sake of digitizing and possibly preserving it. I found a great article on this topic by a library law consultant at Stanford University, Mary Minow. (The link to the article is here: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/2003/11/10/digital_preservation_and_copyr/ ). In this article, Minow talks about the digitization process in order for preservation, and that making copies, or a “reproduction”, of a work is an exclusive right of the copyright owner, not the library or anyone else. So what do you do if your job is to make a digital copy of a copyrighted print material? Minow discusses some exceptions. First she makes mention that if something is published by the “federal government […], facts, ideas, and expired works” then they are in the public domain and are available for reproduction. However, if you come across a work that is not in the public domain and has a copyright license, then there are 3 sections of the copyright law in the United States that may be of help to you (just keep in mind that these apply to the US, so be wary if you’re in Canada): Archiving Computer Programs, Making Preservation Copies (Libraries and Archives only), and of course, the Fair Use (Fair dealing for Canada!) preservation. There are links available to these specific sections on Minow’s article if you’re interested in reading more about these sections.
Before having entered this program, I didn’t really think too much about copyright, except that piracy is illegal and you can’t go to the library (or Chapters) and photocopy an entire book because you’ll get in trouble. I didn’t realize the extent to which copyright was such an issue until learning about the story behind Creative Commons and Aaron Swartz during my first term at FIMS. I don’t need to go further into that topic because, I mean, you guys were there for my presentation… However, whenever copyright is mentioned, I always make a mental connection with that story. And then my inner human rights activist comes out and I just want to find a way for information to be fully accessible to everyone regardless of their status… blah blah blah, I’m going off on a tangent. But its just something to consider. If we, as librarians/future librarians, can somehow figure out a way to convince researchers how important it is to publish in open access journals as opposed to those that require an expensive subscription to obtain access to, it would be beneficial to everyone. Information should be free for all, and I really hope that our generation can make this known and work towards implementing open access for future generations to come.
