October 1, 2008
Legal Issues in Digitization Programs
Grant writing: Include section on c. issues & how to deal w/ it in order to get funding—many funders are now requesting this info.
Copyright issues in a couple different areas: grants & contracts
--Contracts: copyright statements on web, deeds of gift, etc.
--Contract issues are of paramount importance online
Lack of mandatory copyright registration has caused problems in determining transfers of copyright & in establishing copyright clearance.
Copyright: can get protection w/out formal action: don’t have to add a copyright statement to have copyright protection
Rules:
1. Copyright is ubiquitous
2. Exceptions outnumber rights
--Sections 107-122 contain exceptions—we need to know them and how to use them
3. Contracts change everything: in networked environments, contracts are essential
4. Ownership of an item does not provide you with any legal rights to the item. Possession is different from the legal rights. Rightful possession does not equate copyright.
Ex: CD w/ book—can library make copy of CD?
There might be an exception (rule 2), but if there is a statement on the item that prohibits copying, that constitutes a contract (rule 3). You must follow the contract.
Originality + Fixation = Copyright
Federal Intellectual Property: Trademark, Patent, Copyright
State Intellectual Property: Licensing, Trade Secret
--License grants access to info under certain terms & conditions
Copyright & Licensing clash and create issues
DMCA=Digital Millennium Copyright Act--codified in chapter 12
--deals w/ areas not related to originality & fixation
Current copyright act is the 1976 Act.
Public Domain: 1976 Act
--WORKS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR COPYRIGHT: ex.: names, titles, factual info. (may be eligible for other forms of IP), compilation of facts (like telephone books) may not be copyrighted unless something in their arrangement or presentation meets rules of originality & fixation
---who decides what is copyrightable? A person asserts that an item is eligible for c. protection by adding a copyright statement. Only a challenge in federal court can determine the answer to the question. In order to file for c. infringement upon your work, the work must be officially registered to proceed in court.
----It’s all about the level of risk you are willing to take.
Digitization programs issues:
--license
--copyright
--born-digital items
--international copyright
--historical issues
----different legal regimes
----in US: 3 diff. copyright acts over time
----state c. issues (esp. before 1976 act, when c. became a federal act)
--TERM EXPIRED: many items can have terms extended (life of author + 70 years)
------ex. Mickey Mouse, Gershwin music had term extended with this change to the c. act
2017 is next time term limits will come up for discussion to change
---this is not as viable an area to feed into public domain anymore
--WORKS OF FEDERAL GOV’T
-----States, Cities, Towns, may receive c. protection for their work: including statutes, maps, etc. Selling or licensing this information is a revenue stream for these entities.
Database Vendors license agreement makes it difficult to gain access to public domain works (esp. in Lexis Nexis). We could negotiate pricing based on this knowledge.
Something in Public Domain presented in a new way by a vendor may be copyrightable. Is it worth the premium the vendor is charging?
Colleges are risk-adverse. If there isn’t a clear shot of public domain or the items aren’t clearly eligible for digitization activity, some institutions won’t take a risk.
Copyright Analysis Process
Is the work copyrightable?—sections 102, 103, 105
Is the work copyrighted?—300 level sections
Who owns or controls the copyright?—sections 201, 202
What rights does the owner control?—section 106, 106a, 113
What rights are at issue?—section 106
What exceptions apply?—107-122
What is your exposure?---registration pre-requisite – deals with infringement –500 level sections
RIGHTS (#4 & #5 above)
Reproduction: always an issue in digitization
Territory
Term
Format
Party
Derivative Works
Distribution
Public Performance: public perf. VS. non-public perf. is defined
Public Display: esp. inherent w/ digitization
Public Performance: Digital Audio
EXCEPTIONS ANALYSIS (#6 in analysis list)
Libraries exceptions: 108
Schools have separate exceptions
The broader the exception, the more risk is involved. The narrower the exception, the least risk involved. Ex.: Greater risk in using section 107 (fair use).
Library is not defined in the copyright act.
Electronic reserves: falls into gap between sections 108 & 110—it has grown extremely controversial over the past 2 years with the lawsuits between publishers and higher education institutions (Georgia Tech, Syracuse University). Is it a substitute for purchasing another copy? Georgia Tech was not using authentication to access. Policy needs to be customized. Websites on institution servers that contain pdfs of course material are subject to scrutiny. Items within BbVista stand a better chance of being copyright compliant.
Contracts=Deeds of Gift, Wills & Trust, License, Terms of Use
*****While other factors change (technology, risk level, personnel, law), the analysis process never changes
Librarians should not be interpreting the law—that is the job of an attorney. Knowledge of copyright relating to information and knowledge is very specialized. Librarian may be in position to brief an attorney not specializing in this area with reference to the specific appropriate sections that support and contradict the case.
MORAL RIGHTS
--originally a European concept that is embedded in creative works in US after the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act
--visual art: has additional coverage in sections 106a and 113—ALSO, in NY and CA
there are state statutes that can be applied
106a only applies during the life of the author—not life + 70 years, and are non-transferable rights. These rights, while non-transferable, may be waived.
Recommended reading for working with works of visual art: Leonard Duboff writes on art law
Good info from Peter Hirtle: www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain
Fact finding: Copyright held under which act? Published—yes or no? If yes, when? Copyright registered? --Answer the questions from the Copyright Analysis Process above.
Digitization for preservation w/out making it available freely on the web…
Kenneth Crews’ book is helpful
COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE
Identify relevant rights (CAP #5)
Is clearance necessary?
Not copyrightable (CAP #1)
Public domain
i. Section 302 (CAP 2)
ii. Section 108(h) (CAP 6)
c. Statutory exception (CAP 6)
3. State copyright
4. Identify owner (CAP 3)
--Does same party own or control other rights?
--Trademark
--Right of publicity
5. Negotiate permission
NY State Common Law Copyright applies to sound recordings made before Feb. 15, 1972. In digitizing recordings from this era, take this into account.
Getting copyright permission info by Stim—Nolo Press
Be aware of trademarks appearing in digitized materials—especially if fees are charged.
New York General Business Law—section 360 covers trademarks
RIGHTS OF PRIVACY & PUBLICITY
Right of Publicity is a subset to the right of privacy—a person’s right to control his or her likeness or name
Rights of Publicity die when person dies (except in Tennessee—thanks to Elvis; and in California—Fred Astaire act)
The 1st Amendment limits (trumps) the right of publicity
Portraits: model releases
If donor is from another state, the state of the donor’s residence may have laws that apply.
CONTRACTS
Deeds of gift: permanent ownership transfer is best—106 (4) copyright transfer is essential
Trusts: gain possession before the person dies
Licenses: unusual for print material; relevant with multi-media material (software code, e.g.)
Term of Use: important with online display – should we have one for WNY Legacy?
--should match terms & conditions of gift as it relates to access, distribution, reproduction, copyright statement
Google: “terms of use” digitization to get examples
K. Matthew Dames
Email: contact@copycense.net
On the web: http://www.copycense.com/
Monday, November 10, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
How do we engage faculty in Web 2.0?
In August 2008, two committees at Medaille College, Faculty Development and the Ad Hoc Educational Technology Committee, teamed up to present an event about Web 2.0 and education. With short notice to prepare the event, a local presenter was chosen. John Thompson, Associate Professor in the Computer Information Systems Department at Buffalo State College gave a lecture/presentation. The presenter was not very well received, but in listening to the discussions that ensued, I kept asking myself the same question: How do we (we being librarians and faculty committee members) engage faculty in Web 2.0?
As a librarian, my career would have probably come to an end by this point if I had not accepted the change that technology brings at a neck-breaking speed. How did I come to accept and work with Web 2.0 (or Library 2.0)? While working as a Technical Services Librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, I had the opportunity to move the library from a card catalog to an online catalog. I learned about library systems from the inside out and upside down. We didn't have a big staff (actually almost no staff), but with the help from two colleagues in our IT Department, I learned about relational databases and how the information we enter into that relates to what the public sees, what the staff sees, and how the staff creates reports. I worked with IT to manage our library computers and our systems. I didn't have to maintain the server, but I needed to be able to communicate with the IT staff to keep everything running smoothly. It worked out wonderfully. I learned and the Gallery Library moved into a new era.
Now I work as the change agent for library technology at Medaille College. We have been implementing a new integrated library system and I have been evaluating everything we do and how we do it. As we moved through implementation, I kept the staff informed as to our progress and time line. The Support Services wiki became an essential tool we used to track our decisions and projects. The wiki, a Web 2.0 technology, has been a wonderful collaborative project management tool.
Web 2.0 is about conversation. I'd like to see more faculty take part in the conversation. How do I do that? I think that one way to do this is by building confidence and enabling individuals to try something new. Acceptance that it is possible to relate to and engage students in active learning by using the educational technology available to all faculty might be realized as faculty become more comfortable working with technology. So, I will continue to teach workshops and work with faculty individually to help build the confidence necessary to converse in the Web 2.0 world.
11/5/08
As a librarian, my career would have probably come to an end by this point if I had not accepted the change that technology brings at a neck-breaking speed. How did I come to accept and work with Web 2.0 (or Library 2.0)? While working as a Technical Services Librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, I had the opportunity to move the library from a card catalog to an online catalog. I learned about library systems from the inside out and upside down. We didn't have a big staff (actually almost no staff), but with the help from two colleagues in our IT Department, I learned about relational databases and how the information we enter into that relates to what the public sees, what the staff sees, and how the staff creates reports. I worked with IT to manage our library computers and our systems. I didn't have to maintain the server, but I needed to be able to communicate with the IT staff to keep everything running smoothly. It worked out wonderfully. I learned and the Gallery Library moved into a new era.
Now I work as the change agent for library technology at Medaille College. We have been implementing a new integrated library system and I have been evaluating everything we do and how we do it. As we moved through implementation, I kept the staff informed as to our progress and time line. The Support Services wiki became an essential tool we used to track our decisions and projects. The wiki, a Web 2.0 technology, has been a wonderful collaborative project management tool.
Web 2.0 is about conversation. I'd like to see more faculty take part in the conversation. How do I do that? I think that one way to do this is by building confidence and enabling individuals to try something new. Acceptance that it is possible to relate to and engage students in active learning by using the educational technology available to all faculty might be realized as faculty become more comfortable working with technology. So, I will continue to teach workshops and work with faculty individually to help build the confidence necessary to converse in the Web 2.0 world.
11/5/08
Monday, November 3, 2008
CONTENTdm training
On September 23, 2008, Laura Osterhout, Regional Services Librarian at the Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC), and I taught "Introduction to CONTENTdm for WNY Legacy". This 5 hour workshop was attended by 11 local library employees, mostly librarians, and was part of WNYLRC's Digitization Boot Camp: Image Series. The advertisement for this workshop stated: During this session, participants will be introduced to WNYLRC's WNY Legacy digital repository, and will get hands-on experience uploading images using the CONTENTdm Acquisition Station. The workshop will include a step by step workflow for uploading images as well as a detailed discussion of the use and importance of metadata.
CONTENTdm is digital collection management software. WNYLRC has purchased a license for use by its members. WNY Legacy is the local CONTENTdm site which brings together digital collections from libraries and library systems in Western New York. As part of WNYLRC's efforts to spearhead the creation of library digital collections, the Regional Digital Heritage Advisory Subcommittee was formed in 2004. I have been on this subcommittee since its inception and served as chair for two years (2005-2007). Laura has also been on the committee since its inception and now manages the CONTENTdm site. To read more about the WNYLRC Regional Digitization Program, visit the WNYLRC website page for the program.
The workshop gave the participants hands-on experience working with CONTENTdm and thinking through the process of assigning metadata. Laura and I used images from Laura's own photograph collection to provide examples to work with. Each participant was able to upload and create metadata for 2 images by the end of the class. We stressed the use of WNYLRC's metadata template in CONTENTdm along with the other online tools available to help in the creation of meaningful metadata, including the WNYLegacy Metadata Dictionary we started on WNYLRC's wiki site. Other metadata resources discussed were Dublin Core and controlled vocabularies.
What I might do differently if asked to present this again would be to do an in-class evaluation of a few of the participant's final uploaded images and metadata. Having a discussion with the entire class about why the item was cataloged with particular phrases, subjects, etc. would be helpful in teaching context of the metadata. It is important to catalog each item with enough information to describe it on its own, but also place it in the larger context of the collection. This is a difficult concept and one that is key to providing relevant metadata.
All in all, the class was well received and the evaluations were very positive.
CONTENTdm is digital collection management software. WNYLRC has purchased a license for use by its members. WNY Legacy is the local CONTENTdm site which brings together digital collections from libraries and library systems in Western New York. As part of WNYLRC's efforts to spearhead the creation of library digital collections, the Regional Digital Heritage Advisory Subcommittee was formed in 2004. I have been on this subcommittee since its inception and served as chair for two years (2005-2007). Laura has also been on the committee since its inception and now manages the CONTENTdm site. To read more about the WNYLRC Regional Digitization Program, visit the WNYLRC website page for the program.
The workshop gave the participants hands-on experience working with CONTENTdm and thinking through the process of assigning metadata. Laura and I used images from Laura's own photograph collection to provide examples to work with. Each participant was able to upload and create metadata for 2 images by the end of the class. We stressed the use of WNYLRC's metadata template in CONTENTdm along with the other online tools available to help in the creation of meaningful metadata, including the WNYLegacy Metadata Dictionary we started on WNYLRC's wiki site. Other metadata resources discussed were Dublin Core and controlled vocabularies.
What I might do differently if asked to present this again would be to do an in-class evaluation of a few of the participant's final uploaded images and metadata. Having a discussion with the entire class about why the item was cataloged with particular phrases, subjects, etc. would be helpful in teaching context of the metadata. It is important to catalog each item with enough information to describe it on its own, but also place it in the larger context of the collection. This is a difficult concept and one that is key to providing relevant metadata.
All in all, the class was well received and the evaluations were very positive.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
And the Beat Goes On
This past spring has flown by with work devoted to our library system migration: training classes, weeding projects, testing, and data analysis. We are now ready to move from the test database to our "live" database.
One project management tool that has worked very well is our wiki. The Medaille Library Support Sevices wiki now contains information specific to our decisions made regarding best practices and procedures. We have even kept a running to-do list for projects we would like to tackle in the future.
Liz Evans and myself attended the Innovative Users Group meeting in Washington, D.C. in April 2008. Many of the sessions I attended dealt with acquisitions functions. I learned how other libraries have set up their workflows for ordering and receiving materials and I came away with some good ideas to use at Medaille. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet other librarians who have been working with Innovative for a long time.
Another venture I have undertaken is to work with a group of librarians here in Western New York in the creation and publication of a new online journal: The Journal of Library Innovation. We have set January 2010 as the date for publication of the premier issue. We too have set up a wiki to manage the work we are undertaking. It is all very interesting and exciting work!
One project management tool that has worked very well is our wiki. The Medaille Library Support Sevices wiki now contains information specific to our decisions made regarding best practices and procedures. We have even kept a running to-do list for projects we would like to tackle in the future.
Liz Evans and myself attended the Innovative Users Group meeting in Washington, D.C. in April 2008. Many of the sessions I attended dealt with acquisitions functions. I learned how other libraries have set up their workflows for ordering and receiving materials and I came away with some good ideas to use at Medaille. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet other librarians who have been working with Innovative for a long time.
Another venture I have undertaken is to work with a group of librarians here in Western New York in the creation and publication of a new online journal: The Journal of Library Innovation. We have set January 2010 as the date for publication of the premier issue. We too have set up a wiki to manage the work we are undertaking. It is all very interesting and exciting work!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Documenting and Managing Projects
For our migration project, I have committed the Support Services team to documenting our decisions on a wiki. I hope this will prove a worthy task in the future when we (or someone following us) wants to know why or when a decision was made regarding cataloging and ILS management.
I have also asked the two other people in Support Services to provide me with quarterly reports including projects tackled, statistics accumulated, and continuing education opportunities attended. This will provide me with "snapshots" of everyone's work from which to manage priorities and create strategies for accomplishing our mission to provide access to the resources provided by the library.
We have a number of clean up projects to tackle before we send the final bibliographic load to Innovative in June. Reports of lost, missing, and overdue materials have been run and decisions on each title are being made after the shelves are checked for the items. We have incorrectly tagged call numbers to fix. Weeding of the collection is ongoing.
Since we will be implementing electronic serials check-in, we have made the updating of all serials holdings a priority. A new manual check-in procedure was started in the fall. Each print title is being evaluated for retention and correct holdings data is being collected. Once this is complete, a title by title evaluation of the cataloging will begin. Most of our library's cataloging for serial titles has not been updated regularly. Our holdings will be updated on OCLC as the cataloging is updated. Once we have migrated to Innovative, we will add the holdings data in our catalog. This is a very time consuming, labor-intensive project, but one that will add value to our catalog. Once the titles are updated, a regular schedule of title evaluation will be implemented.
I have also asked the two other people in Support Services to provide me with quarterly reports including projects tackled, statistics accumulated, and continuing education opportunities attended. This will provide me with "snapshots" of everyone's work from which to manage priorities and create strategies for accomplishing our mission to provide access to the resources provided by the library.
We have a number of clean up projects to tackle before we send the final bibliographic load to Innovative in June. Reports of lost, missing, and overdue materials have been run and decisions on each title are being made after the shelves are checked for the items. We have incorrectly tagged call numbers to fix. Weeding of the collection is ongoing.
Since we will be implementing electronic serials check-in, we have made the updating of all serials holdings a priority. A new manual check-in procedure was started in the fall. Each print title is being evaluated for retention and correct holdings data is being collected. Once this is complete, a title by title evaluation of the cataloging will begin. Most of our library's cataloging for serial titles has not been updated regularly. Our holdings will be updated on OCLC as the cataloging is updated. Once we have migrated to Innovative, we will add the holdings data in our catalog. This is a very time consuming, labor-intensive project, but one that will add value to our catalog. Once the titles are updated, a regular schedule of title evaluation will be implemented.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A Busy New Year
It has been almost 2 months since my last post, but rest assured, I have been busy. Not only did the usual holiday preparations and festivities consume my time away from work, but I have been busy at work with the beginnings of migrating our library's catalog to Innovative Interfaces Inc.'s Millennium integrated library system (ILS). At Medaille, we are not using a full ILS; we use TLC's catalog and circulation products, but acquisitions is not integrated. We will be using Millennium for acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and serials check-in. We will be starting our training at the end of January and hope to go live with the catalog and circulation early in June. In the meantime, we in technical services are busy evaluating workflows as they exist with an eye towards making positive changes to keep the library running smoothly.
Serials control is a big issue for us. We are evaluating all serial titles and updating cataloging, which has not been done regularly for some time. Also, tracking and checking-in of serial subscriptions (print and online) has now become a function of technical services, bringing all bibliographic control for serials to the technical services department.
Serials control is a big issue for us. We are evaluating all serial titles and updating cataloging, which has not been done regularly for some time. Also, tracking and checking-in of serial subscriptions (print and online) has now become a function of technical services, bringing all bibliographic control for serials to the technical services department.
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