Page 202 - Building Digital Libraries

Access Management 8

Managing collections has always required managing access to them. IN THIS CHAPTER
Libraries navigate copyright and fair use issues every day when handling
interlibrary loan and electronic-reserves requests. However, libraries’ expe-  Copyright
rience with access management is overwhelmingly from the perspective  Access Control Mechanisms
of the information consumer rather than the information publisher and  Implementing Access Control
distributor. Digital repositories require libraries to take on both of these
roles: that of the entity which secures rights for publication, and the entity
which enforces access rights for materials.
Unless your repository exclusively contains open-access resources,
repository administration requires time and resources dedicated to access
management. Articles and documents may need to be embargoed in order
to satisfy publishers’ or patent needs. Photos may need to be restricted
because they contain personal or proprietary data. Access may need to be
changed because signed releases have expired. Individuals and groups con-
tributing content to the system may need to limit access to specific individu-
als and communities. For most repositories, access management requires
balancing the rights of authors with the mission of the library.

Copyright

Unless a repository is used only for internal purposes, access management
involves a copyright dimension. Copyright is a set of legislative rights that
allows content creators and those they authorize to control the dissemi-
nation of their work. Copyright applies differently in different countries,
particularly in regard to the types of works that can receive copyright. For
example, within the United States, no materials created by local, state, or
federal governments can be copyrighted, while in the United Kingdom, all
government works are copyrighted as the property of the Crown. Likewise,
the duration of copyrights and the applications of fair use differ, though
nations have traditionally respected copyright law across borders.

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