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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Authors Take Libraries to Court in Face Off on Copyright Issues

Yesterday a blog I wrote was posted concerning the move by authors - led by the Author's Guild - to blog efforts by libraries to increase access to the world's literature by making digitized versions of works available for searching and/or access. The post is part of Information Today's NewsBreaks feature and available for free access.

Clearly current copyright law is ineffective, leaving anyone dealing with information uncertain of exactly what is owned, what isn't -- and even more so, is just owning some work make it inaccessible? Libraries are diligently working to create what Robert Darnton has called the Digital Public Library to serve all people and make information more readily available to all people. The copyright law, as it stands, clearly isn't giving people the guidance or clarity needed. Given the problems in getting anything done in Washington, a more likely resolution is through the courts - which obviously will leave libraries - and our users - in the lurch for the foreseeable future.

Take a look at the blog posting - and the various sources linked to it - and feel free to share your ideas or opinions here as well.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not sure you'd remember me from the old days of CD-ROM, but I've caught a few of these pieces you are doing now. Excellent work - but you always did do great work. Keep it up! I'll keep following!

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