Abstract: This paper describes the legal and technical issues which bedevil the creation of online libraries, particularly in relation to copyright. It discusses the Google Books settlement of October 2008 and a number of divergent views on its value or problems for libraries.
From the body of the paper:
...As I see it, there is but one solution that supports libraries and their patrons in an effective way: extending the First Sale Doctrine to allow the “lending” of copies of the licensed product with robust copy protection or in a read only format. But —you may ask, these measures are useless against a skilled hacker… well, photocopying a whole book or stealing it are loopholes that are exploited by a few library users; but only by a rare few. Most users will have little reason to reduplicate their items; and one should expect that films and other media will be available in pirated versions in the greyer areas of the Internet. The practical limits of hard drives will keep patrons from downloading a whole collection....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/08/2008 03:55:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
