Selected Copyright Resources

Best overall introduction to copyright:

• Peter B. Hirtle, Emily Hudson, and Andrew T. Kenyon, Copyright and Cultural Institutions:  Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives and Museums.  Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Library, 2009.  (Available for purchase at the SAA Bookstore, Create Space, and other book retailers, or as a free download.

Best overall introductions to copyright for archivists:

• Chris Prom and Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, Rights in the Digital Era, Society of American Archivists (2015), specifically module 4 on copyright by Heather Brison and module 7 on managing rights and permissions by Aprille McKay
• Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt, Navigating Legal Issues in Archives, Society of American Archivists (2008)
• Kenneth D. Crews,  "Unpublished Manuscripts and the Right of Fair Use: Copyright Law and the Strategic Management of Information Resources," Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarianship, 5:2 (1990)
• William J. Maher, "If Only We Could Reach the Shoals: Barriers to Archives Digitization," Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts (2010)
• Martha Minow & Peter B. Hirtle, LibraryLaw Blog
• Tim Padfield, Copyright for Archivists and Records Managers, 5th Ed., Facet Publishing (2015)

Copyright Law:

• The Copyright Law
• The Copyright Office

On the Public Domain:

• Stephen Fishman, The Public Domain : How to Find and Use Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More  5th Edition.  Nolo Press, (2010)
• Peter B. Hirtle, Senior Policy Advisor, Cornell University Library, “Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States” (chart)
• Scanned renewal volumes of the Catalog of Copyright Entries.
• The Stanford database of searchable renewals.

On Fair Use

• Kenneth Crews, Director, Copyright Advisory Office, Columbia University Library, "Fair Use," including the fair use checklist.
• U.S. Copyright Office Fair Use Index.  A searchable database of court opinions, including facets for category and type of use (e.g. music, internet/digitization, parody)

On Orphan Works

• Society of American Archivists, "Orphan Works:  Statement of Best Practices" (2009)

On Section 108:

• Section 108 Study Group Report, (March 2008)

On Digitization:

• Well-intentioned practice for putting digitized collections of unpublished materials online (2011)
• Laura Clark Brown, Judy Ruttenberg and Kevin L. Smith, “Triangle Research Libraries Network's Intellectual Property Rights Strategy for Digitization of Modern Manuscript Collections and Archival Record Groups” (2011)
• Research Library Issues 279:  Special Issue on Special Collections and Archives in the Digital Age. June 2012

General Resources

• Harry Ransom Center: The University of Texas at Austin, The WATCH File:  Writers, Artists and their Copyright Holders
• Scott Burnham, "Copyright in Library-Held Materials: A Decision Tree for Librarians" Law Library Journal, 96:3 (2004)
• "Copyright and Unpublished Materials: An Introduction for Users of Manuscript Collections," SAA Intellectual Property Working Group.

SAA Workshops related to copyright

• Copyright Issues for Digital Archives [DAS] (1 day)
• Rights and Permissions: Policies for Reproduction and Reuse of Archival Holdings (1 day)
• Copyright:  The Archivist and the Law (2 days)
• Archivists' Guide to Balancing Legal Issues in Photographic Collections (1 day)

Other training

• Copyright for Educators and Librarians, 5-week Coursera MOOC, taught by Kevin Smith, Lisa Macklin and Anne Gilliland.