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 | Librarians, Public Interest Advocate Urges Bulk Access to Copyright Records
Crusading public advocate Carl Malamud joined forces with librarians this week to spark an effort aimed at freeing the catalog of copyright records. In a letter to the Registrar of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, Malamud and a team of academic librarians urged Peters to "provide bulk access to the copyright catalog of monographs, documents, and serials" on the Internet.
Currently, copyright information is available in two ways: through a web-based application that allows the public to search for individual records. "However, no bulk access is available," the letter notes, and users cannot download the entire database. Second, the Cataloging and Distribution Service of the Library of Congress sells subscriptions. Currently, a "total entry" subscription costs $86,625. Further, the letter notes, the Library of Congress asserts copyright on its copyright data.
"A price tag of $86,625 places this database beyond the reach of university libraries, small businesses that wish to provide a better copyright search service, and academics or citizens wishing to analyze the copyright registration process, The letter states. "Additionally, setting copyright restrictions on the copyright database, a "work of the United States Government," runs directly counter to the well-established principle that such works shall be in the public domain."
The authors acknowledge that the copyright database currently provides a revenue stream that Congress may be unwilling to abandon swiftly. As an immediate solution, Malamud and the librarians suggested setting up "a collective fund" for purchase of a single copy of the database, making it available for anyone to use. "This would provide a public distribution channel, a safety valve for public access to this vital public database. We ask only that you help us clarify that there is no copyright on the database so that we may freely redistribute it."
The copyright catalog of monographs, documents, and serials is "not a product," the letter further asserts, "it is fuel that makes the copyright system work. Anybody should be able to download the entire database to their desktop, write a better search application, or use this public domain information to research copyright questions." Librarians signing the letter include Peter Brantley (executive director, Digital Library Federation); Michael A. Keller (Stanford); H. Carton Rogers (Penn); Robert Darnton (Harvard); Thomas C. Leonard (UC Berkeley); Duane Webster (ARL executive director); and Ann J. Wolpert (MIT).
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AUC Librarians Say King Collection Could Be Open for Research by 2008
It's been a little over a year since the Robert W. Woodruff Library (RWWL) of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) became custodians of a remarkable collection of Martin Luther King Jr.'s personal papers. But with the help of new and existing staff, librarians say the collection could be available for scholarly research by fall of 2008, a rapid turnaround given the complexity of processing special collections.
"We're thrilled with the progress they are making," said Woodruff Library CEO & Director Loretta Parham. The Morehouse King Collection contains many of King's original manuscripts, writings, and sermons as well as his personal library. It was purchased on behalf of King's alma mater, Morehouse College, for which Woodruff serves as the sole academic library. In September 2006, the Woodruff Library of the AUC became the custodial home of 10,000 items belonging to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after the city of Atlanta marshaled a coalition of donors to chip in and save the collection from the auction block.
Upon the collection's arrival, AUC, consultants, and archival staff inventoried the materials shipped and developed a plan for processing, preserving, conserving, and preparing the collection. From January 15-May 13, 2007, AUC and the Atlanta History Center collaborated to exhibit 600 items from the collection, which were viewed by more than 72,000 visitors. Currently, archivists are "re-housing items in appropriate and uniform alkaline boxes and folders," as well examining materials that may need conservation treatment.
Swift progress has been made by the staff of the Archives & Special Collections Department, helped by the addition of staff: a team of two archivists, a cataloger, graduate assistant, and a project manager hired exclusively to process the Morehouse King Collection. Parham said the infusion of new staff working solely on the King Collection has also had a positive impact on work in the rest of the library, freeing up RWWL archivists, curators, and technicians to focus on a variety of other collections.
AUC officials said they also have entered into a collaborative planning partnership with the Howard Gotlieb Archival and Research Center of Boston University, which houses a major King collection, to create digital finding aids that would allow researchers to simultaneously search the holdings of each King collection. A proposal to fund that plan is now in discussion. Items themselves are not being digitized at this time, but Parham said that that is "a consideration for future plans."
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| Columbia Law School To Launch Site To Help Creators Protect Copyrights
Columbia Law School said it will officially launch KeepYourCopyrights.org on September 19, a resource designed to help artists and writers retain control of their copyrights and manage those rights throughout their careers. The site is the work of Columbia Law School professors Jane Ginsburg and Timothy Wu, and is a response to the digital era, which has enabled and inspired more creativity while also creating more copyright pitfalls.
The site will help creators with things like explanations and examples of copyright contracts. "We want to reach the most vulnerable creators with this," said Ginsburg, adding that they hope to enable "a different vision for what the future of copyright should be, to actually benefit authors and creators." The web site will be launched with a demonstration for media at an event, Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 6 p.m. at the Columbia Law School, Room 104 of Jerome Greene Hall, 435 W 116
Street, between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Drive, New York City. Speakers will include literary agent Morton Janklow, as well as Ginsburg and Wu.
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| Tananbaum Joins SPARC Consulting Group
SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) announced this week that it is expanding the SPARC Consulting Group with the addition Greg Tananbaum, president of the Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) and a columnist for Against the Grain. The SPARC Consulting Group (SCG), formed in 2002, provides business, financial, and strategic consulting services to universities and university presses, learned societies, and other academic and nonprofit organizations. Tananbaum joins SCG consultants Raym Crow and Howard Goldstein.
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