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Hello, We have an active scanning
program for brittle materials. In our case it is mostly scores, which means a
large portion of it is European imprints. Also, we are using our university
digital repository, which gives us the option of making scans available to the
general public or not. So far, we’ve been using the following rough
guidelines: US imprint ·
< 1923 we assume to
be PD and publish the scan ·
>1923 we assume
to be in copyright and store in the depository without making it available,
unless someone goes to the trouble of determining that its copyright
wasn’t renewed European imprint (including Russia, which has same general rules as EU): ·
Composer dead more
than 70 years, editor dead more than 30 years (or no editor mentioned), no US
pub info or pub date before 1923: PD ·
Composer dead more
than 70 years, editor dead more than 30 years BUT with US publication noted
after 1923: PD in Europe but not US; we store it in the repository, where
access is restricted to university use. We are working to formalize a
relationship with IMSLP where we send them copies of “partially PD”
publications, since they have the filters needed for geographical restrictions
on access. ·
Composer dead less
than 70 years or editor dead less than 30 years, US publication
mentioned before 1923: PD in US but not in Europe; same as above ·
Composer dead less
than 70 years or editor dead less than 30 years, US publication mentioned after
1923: in copyright; in most cases these are also less brittle and we put off
scanning them. I routinely write a brief note to publishers in these situations
(if I can find them, or a rights holder, with a quick web search), and have recently
had one positive response from the son of a composer. We will be publishing at
least some of his works with notes of permission. Other foreign imprints (this isn’t common for us) we try to determine
their copyright rules and follow through accordingly Publisher and/or composer we
never heard of and can’t locate
(and the original is obviously old): put it out until told to take it down
(which hasn’t happened yet) Still in publication though
PD: We usually give the publisher,
including a reprint publisher, the benefit of their work by purchasing a
replacement copy, unless we think they are charging an unreasonable amount or
doing a shoddy reprint job I think we have only once been asked
to take down a score we’ve uploaded for universal use, and that was back
at the beginning of the program, before we realized how European copyright
works. Otherwise, this has worked well for us in terms of being quick &
easy to apply, and apparently acceptable to current publishers. Alice Carli Sibley Music Library From: Cathleen Martyniak
[mailto:cathy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Hello, I am looking for information re: legally reformatting
brittle materials published outside the US. I have many brittle books
that are not US imprints that have been selected for long term retention and I
want to scan/post. Unfortunately, I am unable to [easily or at all] determine
their copyright status. What do you do at your institution with this kind of
material? Do you apply US law to it? Do you attempt to determine the
copyright law of the foreign country and correctly apply it? Do you scan and
post it and if anyone ever complains you take it down? Or does a backlog of
these books simply build up in your office? I suspect I am not the only Preservation operation with this
question. Perhaps you would respond to the list and we could try to get a
nice conversation going on the topic??
Cathy Cathleen
L. Martyniak Preservation
Department University
of Florida Smathers Libraries Gainesville,
FL 32611 (voice)
352 273 2830 (fax)
352 392 6597 (email)
cathy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx |