Selecting for Digitization and Copyright Issues

See sections below:

• Copyright
• Selecting for Digitization

Copyright

General Resources

• Cornell Institute for Digital Collections. Copyright Resources (http://cidc.library.cornell.edu)
• Heilig, Jean. Legal Issues to Consider When Digitizing Collections(http://www.cdpheritage.org/digital/legalIssues.cfm )
• Indiana University Copyright Management Center (http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/index.htm)
• Levine, Melissa Smith. "Overview of Legal Issues for Digitization." In Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access. Ed. Maxine Sitts (2000).
  (http://www.nedcc.org/digital/v.htm).
• Minow, Mary. Digitization Projects: Does Your Library Have the Rights and Permissions it Needs? (http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/5-16-02_digitization.html)
• Pritcher, Lynn. "Ad*Access: Seeking Copyright Permissions for a Digital Age." D-Lib Magazine (Feb. 2000).
  (http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february00/pritcher/02pritcher.html)
• Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/)
• UCLA Library Department of Special Collections. Sample donor permission letter. (http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/rights/sample_permission_letter.doc). Sample letter used by an institution to seek permission from a donor to select materials to digitize from the donor's collection, as potential copyright holder to some of the collection items. The institution would then proceed with selecting items that were created by the donor (given that the donor may not necessarily be the copyright holder of all items in the collection), in addition to items that were not created by the donor but do not have copyright restrictions. All items selected for digitization created by the donor would not be scanned without the donor's consent, which would be secured using a second letter. This letter is courtesy of the UCLA Library Department of Special Collections.
• US Copyright Office (http://www.copyright.gov/)

Assessment Tools

• Gasaway, Lolly. When Works Pass into the Public Domain.
  (http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm).
• Hirtle, Peter. When Works Pass into the Public Domain in the United States (http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/)
• Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center. Charts and Tools (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/charts_tools/)
• Visual Resources Association. Digital Image Rights Computator (http://www.vraweb.org/resources/ipr/dirc/page_1.html)

Selecting for Digitization

• Hazen, Dan, Jeffrey Horrell, and Jan Merrill. Selecting Research Collections for Digitization (Council on Library and Information Resources, 1998).
  (http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/hazen/pub74.html). An excellent plan of selection that includes the development of a technology plan, addressing the issues of copyright and ownership, questions to ask about current use of the collection, markup languages, and long-term management of the new resource.
• Research Libraries Group (RLG). Recommended Background for Digitizing Decisions (2002).
  (http://www.rlg.org/culturalres/pointers.html). The RLG Cultural Materials Initiative has put up this great site with information about selection, outsourcing, cost estimating, imaging, text, audio and motion.
• Tennant, Roy. "So Much to Digitize, So Little Time (and Money)" Library Journal (August 1, 1998).
  (http://www.libraryjournal.com/articles/digitallibraries/19980801
  _3226.asp). Outlines issues such as choosing materials by "critical mass," considering the potential audience for the resource, and using "experimentation" of different materials and formats.
• Tennant, Roy. "Selecting Collections to Digitize." Library Journal (November 15, 2000).
  (http://www.libraryjournal.com/articles/infotech/digitallibraries/
  20001115_16873.asp). An excellent summary of current publications in the area of selection. This article includes links to many selection policies in place at a variety of institutions.