An important part of any digital project is knowing what you are allowed to digitize. Copyright restrictions play an active role in deciding what collections libraries can put online and who can access those collections. A number of factors can be part of a library's decision to digitize or not such as fair use, educational use, or if the copyright owner will grant permission. But you don't have to worry about these factors when a work is in the public domain.
Works in the public domain have either had copyright expire, or copyright never applied to them. The trick is knowing what works are in the public domain and what are still under copyright. Today's tool is two resources that help you answer that questions.
Michael Brewer and the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy created a Digital Copyright Slider for determining what's in the public domain. More detailed information is presented in the Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States Chart by Peter Hirtle. These tools make looking up copyright status quick and easy
Do you have tools that you use for copyright reference with digital collections? Let us know in the comments.
Posts
TIC meeting April 2012
11 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment