Educational institutions continually work to balance between providing students with access to data and protecting copyright owner's exclusive rights. The Copyright Act of 1976, effective in 1978, provided exemptions for live and distance education. As digital technology grew in capability, its capabilities were incorporated in distance education,…

This report draws primarily on the results of the recently concluded African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) Project, which investigated copyright and access to learning materials in face-to-face, distance education (DE), and dual-mode tertiary educational institutions in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa,…

Copyright law is a source of a great deal of bewilderment and frustration to academic librarians. Beyond the basics of copyright protection and fair use, most librarians struggle to grasp the complexity of the law and the roadblocks it presents to access and use. This article attempts to elucidate some of those complexities by suggesting seven…

This is the first comprehensive, national-level study of the state of sound recording preservation ever conducted in the U.S. The authors have produced a study outlining the web of interlocking issues that now threaten the long-term survival of the sound recording history. This study tells everyone that major areas of America's recorded sound…

The purpose of traditional copyright law was to encourage the creation of works based on and to ensure reasonable access to original thought. Despite this harmonious intent, an intrinsic tension exists between libraries and copyright holders, as the former promotes "free" access to information that ultimately reduces the income of the…

Discusses copyright law and its effect on libraries' ability to provide equal and timely access to information. Highlights include fair use, publishers' revenue-based approach to copyright, copying guidelines for librarians, copyright use fees and the cost of access, and a hypothetical index of copyright access fees for journal articles. Contains…

Today, federal laws often seem like an alphabet soup with acronyms like CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act), CTEA (Copyright Term Extension Act), ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), YMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and NC LB (No Child Left Behind). These letters stand for federal…

In this article, the author provides a spirited defense of librarians' sometimes controversial role in public and legislative controversies over a wide array of topics including fair use, Internet filters, and digital rights to intellectual property. She argues that librarians cannot solve the copyright conundrum for their universities by…

Conducted to investigate copyright questions that have arisen from the development of new communications technologies which were not foreseen when the copyright law was rewritten in 1976, these hearings are particularly concerned with the areas of low-power television (LPTV) and satellite communications. Following session opening remarks,…

Copyright law supports a fundamental mission of colleges and universities to create and disseminate new knowledge and understanding through teaching, research, and scholarship in two basic ways: (1) by providing incentives for the creation of new works through the provision of proprietary rights to copyright owners, and (2) by providing…

The existing Copyright Act of 1976 makes it virtually impossible for distance educators to transmit audio-visual or non-dramatic, literary works to students through any medium which may be received by the general public. It is a law that perhaps unintentionally discriminates against distance learning students. Certain revisions of the law are…

This nonlegislative report presents guidelines for the interpretation of the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976. Technological developments since 1976 have necessitated the re-interpretation of the fair use exemption contained in the Copyright Act by copyright owners and the educational community to allow educators to apply the Act…