Abstract:
Although information seems but just a click away, when libraries embraced licensing as a means of acquisition, the choice had far reaching implications. The hard hit to academic library budgets is well documented, but the impact even encumbers access to our cultural heritage. Societal costs are incurred through the restrictions to access, barriers to discovery, impediments to fair use, and the overall length of copyright. While vendors try to create a comprehensive platform and tools under one click, librarians have stayed the course to fight for vendor neutral collections, open access alternatives, and reduced digital rights management constraints. The scope of licensing practices is expanding to address not only legal but technical specifications, privacy concerns, authors’ rights, accessibility, national information standards and emergence of preservation registries. With copyright constraints unlikely to revert back to its original 17 years of protection, the library community’s struggle under the effects of licensing are leading to clever and creative initiatives that will begin to write a new chapter in digital information management.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution 3.0 United States