Strategies for Advancing Knowledge Through Copyright

Copyright law is pervasive in the work of information professionals and has a direct impact on how we access, process and use information. Despite its effects on our work, fear and uncertainty about copyright law plagues cultural heritage institutions. This uncertainty can slow efforts to achieve our goals and missions. This session is designed to empower you to feel more confident about copyright and digitization of collections. You will learn the fundamentals of copyright law, including the duration of protection for both published and archival items. This session will also cover fair use and other limitations. You will hear about how rights metadata can help manage large repositories of digitized works and help users understand how those items can be used to create new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings. Finally, this session will review how a library digitized and used two collections in furtherance of its mission, despite ambiguous copyright status and ownership of the items.

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