CLIR Press Releases

For Immediate Release: October 27, 2005

Contact: David Seaman dseaman@clir.org 202-939-4762
Kathlin Smith ksmith@clir.org 202-939-4754

Acquiring Copyright Permission to Digitize for Open Access: What Does it Take?

Washington, D.C.—Realizing the dream of creating a rich, openly accessible digital library requires navigating copyright. In a new report from the Digital Library Federation and the Council on Library and Information Resources, Acquiring Copyright Permission to Digitize and Provide Open Access to Books, author Denise Troll Covey examines the practical aspects of seeking open access to books whose rights are privately held—that is, most work published since 1923.

The author, principal librarian for special projects at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), describes three efforts at CMU, conducted between 1999 and 2005, to make books freely available on the Internet for public use: the Random Sample Feasibility Study, the Fine and Rare Book Study, and the Million Book Project Study. Her descriptions of this process and its results reveal an array of challenges, but also suggest strategies for success.

The main finding is that obtaining legal clearances requires an enormous investment of time, money, and patience. Locating copyright holders is difficult, expensive, and often unsuccessful, especially for older works. In the most successful of the three studies—the Fine and Rare Book Study—publishers of 13 percent of the titles targeted for digitization could not be found. But of those that were found, 65 percent granted permission to digitize their titles, accounting for 71 percent of the titles for which permission was sought. In this study, the cost of obtaining permission per title was about $78.

Publishers who chose not to grant permission to digitize often feared lost revenue, even for older or out-of-print titles that were not generating income. Many publishers, particularly university presses, said that they wanted to participate but could not because copyright had reverted to the author. The most common reason publishers gave for not participating in the Million Book Project, however, was that they did not have the time and staff needed to check their paper files title-by-title to determine copyright status and ownership.

The studies also revealed that publishers define "out of print" differently than librarians do. Even though a book may be listed as "out of print" in a catalog, publishers who still control rights to a book may not consider it to be so because print on demand can give a book new life.

The study's findings are preceded by a brief history of copyright law and practice. Acquiring Copyright Permission to Digitize and Provide Open Access to Books is available electronically at http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub134abst.html, and at http://purl.oclc.org/dlf/trollcovey0509. Print copies are available for ordering through CLIR's and DLF's Web site, for $25 per copy plus shipping and handling.

The Digital Library Federation, founded in 1995, is a partnership organization of academic libraries and related organizations that are pioneering the use of electronic-information technologies to extend their collections and services.

The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the management of information for research, teaching, and learning. CLIR works to expand access to information, however recorded and preserved, as a public good.

# # #