Copyright Information – Now, so that you will know exactly how and where "credit is due" here are some useful tools that tell you way more than you ever wanted to know about copyright laws.
OK, first, a shameless plug for the profession which has (arguably) done the most work in the trenches on this subject, the American Library Association and its Office for Intellectual Freedom. The others come from a web page maintained by ALA for the express use of libraries.
United
States Copyright Office, Library of Congress
United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress remains the single
best source on copyright legislation and trends in the marketplace. This
site is updated frequently and includes up to date information and links
to websites on WIPO, URAA, the impact of the "Sonny Bono Copyright
Term Extension Act," implications for distance learning and reserve
material, etc.
**Library of Congress Copyright website update: The LC page now includes the Report on Copyright and Digital Distance Education. The report is 353 pages long. Reviewing the 25 page Executive Summary is advised before using a ream of paper to print this report.
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law on October 28, 1998,
amended the copyright law to provide limitations for service provider liability
relating to material online. New subsection 512(c) of the copyright law
provides limitations on service provider liability with respect to information
residing, at direction of a user, on a system or network that the service
provider controls or operates, if the service provider has designated an
agent for notification of claimed infringement by providing contact information
to the Copyright Office and through the service provider's publicly accessible
website. 17 U.S.C. 512(c). There are 5 titles in the Act, each of special
significance to libraries and educational institutions.
Association
of Research Libraries
The ARL site remains one of the most comprehensive sites for information
on Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Fair Use. The site is updated regularly,
usually every month or two.
Digital
Images Fair Use Guidelines
A Summary of Concerns (Association of Research Libraries)
:Encyclopedias: :Style Manuals: :Search Engines: :Legal Research Sites: