Copyright and Large Scale Digitization: Implications for Access

RLG Programs has done a series of short interviews with partner institutions in order to understand how and why copyright evidence is being gathered, how evidence is recorded, and what actions are taken based on the resulting information. Institutions were selected to include those who were participating in large scale digitization efforts (Google Book, the Open Content Alliance, or Microsoft), and institutions who were known to be interested in copyright status for other reasons (in support of publications, etc). A handful of partners discussed their practice in regard to mass digitization efforts. Preliminary findings suggest that most of these institutions are currently limiting attention to materials published in the United States before 1923, and that activities in this area are focused on post-digitization selection for access.

Library-based copyright assessment exercises focused on the “low-hanging fruit” (US imprints published before 1923), which will affect only a small portion of the system-wide book collection. Previous studies have indicated that as many as half of all books in the system-wide library collection were published after 1977, suggesting that comprehensive conversion efforts will produce a body of digitized text that is in large part subject to copyright protection. In order to maximize the impact of their collective investment in copyright assessment and local online access initiatives, libraries may choose to prioritize work around titles that are not widely held or that represent unique research content. This session will examine what is known about the scope and range of the 18% of system-wide library book collections that were published prior to 1923, based on a sample of titles held at North American research libraries. A comparison will be made between the characteristics of public domain and in-copyright titles in the sample. With this information in hand, it should be possible to foster a productive dialogue about how library-based access initiatives can enrich and complement the discovery and delivery services provided by digitization partners, publishers and other agencies.