COPYRIGHT FOR LIBRARIES

Image source: bytescare

As librarians, it is important to understand the implications of work copyrighted by authors and which we share with our customers. Why must we always give credit when we cite work we are present to customers? how is it that customers can copy only a certain percentage of printed books? how does a library make sure that its clients understand their responsibilities and the library's responsibility when it comes to copyrighted material? Such are the questions we will find answers to in this section.

I first came across the idea of libraries and copyright issues when I was doing a Storytime at my public library.  As a children's Associate, we use a lot of information that we have not created such as music, books, pictures etc... In our team, there was a woman who always made sure she wrote, the author's name, the singer's name, the illustrator's name etc...This piqued my interest. I knew that if I had been the author of a song used in a storytime, I would be proud but also would like people to know that I was the author of that song, picture of book. I however did not know the rules that regulated copyrighted materials and particularly the exemption afforded to libraries and librarians. This is why I chose this topic and prepared the attached document.



Image source: Karen Stohner
The idea of copyright protects our ability, to freely and without fear, use our gifts and talents. It is described in the Oxford Dictionary as "the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator, for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform film or record literary artistic, or musical material". Without our copyright laws, a person could work really hard, publish their work, and see themselves robbed of the benefits, financial and others, of having created the work. This would impede the creative power of a society.
But libraries hold a special place in the circulation of published literary work. We actually exist to serve a great number of people with literary work, free of charge. Libraries workers strive to "create systems that ensure members of their community can freely access information".

For the library to live up to its values and code of ethics, an exception from the copyrighted laws had to be created which is called "Fair Use" or the legal doctrine that allows the limited use of copyrighted material without the owner's permission for education, research, and other purposes". The fair use law is codified as 17 U.S.C. § 107.

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