The Blog of Bringing Things Together

That isn’t me talking, that is the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress along with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), the Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project, and the SURFfoundation released a report (pdf) on Monday that basically states just that.

The stated purpose of the report is:

1. to review the current state of copyright and related laws and their impact on digital preservation;
2. to make recommendations for legislative reform and other solutions to ensure that libraries, archives and other preservation institutions can effectively preserve digital works and information in a manner consistent with international laws and norms of copyright and related rights; and
3. to make recommendations for further study or activities to advance the recommendations in the Report.

The key is number 2, “to make recommendations for legislative reform…”  From the release on digitalpreservation.gov:

As the laws of the countries discussed in the report demonstrate, in many cases exceptions and limitations do not accommodate the actions required for digital preservation.

Now, the recommendation doesn’t just simply state that anyone who wants to preserve information can do so.  So no, you won’t have the LOC on your side if you are sued for “preserving” media on your home machine which you do not have legal right to possess it.

From the report:

[These suggestions should] apply to all non-profit libraries, archives, museums and other institutions as may be authorized by national law (hereafter, “preservation institutions”) that are open to the public, provided they do not undertake these activities for any purpose of commercial advantage.

These institutions would be able to (1) reproduce as many copies as necessary for effective preservation, (2) transfer those copies to other formats as standards progress, (3) “communicate” those works within and between various preservation repositories to maintain redundancy.

Why did the Library of Congress et. al produce this report?  Because without some changes to the current status qua of copyright law libraries and archives will be unable to exercise one of their most important roles in our society: preservation.

[In the current US copyright system] there is no specific authorization for libraries and archives to make preservation copies of published works in their collections.

If you are at all interested in learning more about how copyright effects the preservation of our society’s knowledge, you should read the report.  Plus, for those of you who thought that librarians are just quiet subservient employees of the state that don’t speak up for our rights; think again.  Librarians are at the front of cultural freedom as any other group, if not more.