Copyright Issues and Digital Preservation in Academic Libraries:

Abstract

Digital preservation is a process that ensures that any information in a digital format is accessible, usable and remains valuable to users. Digital preservation keeps materials usable and alive. Copyright is the exclusive legal right given to the originator or author to publish, film, prints or record artistic, musical and literary works. It is created by laws of a country to grant a creator of an original work rights for use and distribution. Academic libraries have been tasked with ensuring that they make materials available to students and faculty members in support of teaching, learning and research. Libraries house copyrighted materials and also materials that are in the public domain. The purpose of this literature review used is exploratory based on survey design using content analysis as its design. In essence the understanding of copyright laws by digital librarians, copy-right related problems that arise during digitization and what copyright issues digital librarians face as they perform their duties in developing and populating their institutions repositories. Digital age has unleashed new sets of problems that stem from the ease of access to information provided by the internet. The terrain is rough and unchartered; never before have issues of access and protection clashed in such a powerful way. The users of copyrighted materials are hard-pressed to stay up to date with the latest regulations and cases. Copyright holders have been defending their rights under the copyright law and the penalties for infringing the laws are very harsh. The balance between the rights of copyright holders and users of the information has been tenuous and is considered to be an “asymmetric distribution of uncertainty”. The prevalence of internet use has only exacerbated the issue, and misunderstandings of copyright laws are common. Academic libraries have been tasked with providing their users with copyrighted digital information by providing access, storing and even exhibiting the resources. Academic libraries play an important role as they are responsible for facilitating research, teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning. They ensure access to relevant information in the quest for academic excellence. The preservation of digital publications involves various issues. Copyright laws and licensing may prevent problems libraries that wish to preserve digital resources in the long-term or even short-term. This paper will be useful to the digital librarians and repository managers in understanding copyright issues that are important and relevant in digitization and digital preservation.