15th May 2008, 02:43 PM
My local archivist has explained to me that some of the issues with 'copyright' are in reality as much to do with ownership of the items. Not everything the record office holds belongs to them, it may only be on deposit/long term loan and therefore it is not theirs to be able to say it can be reproduced, even if it is technically out of copyright. It may also be that they have reproductions of an item (e.g. from the National Archives) and therefore they are themselves already bound by restrictions.
They have the copyright form to cover themselves as copyright relates to the individual not corporate and this covers their archivists. They are quite happy to give permission where they can if you write to the collections manager. This means that they can be certain of owenrship/copyright and it is considered properly rather than on an ad hoc basis by a member of staff who may not have all the information.
She recommends "Copyright for Records Managers and Archivists" by Tim Padfield (available on Amazon)which has recently been updated to take account of digital and Freedom of Information issues. Apparently the flow diagrams in the back are invaluable and it is actually quite readable considering it is about copyright! Although I don't think it'll be top of my holiday reading list!
I'd agree that this is something that could really do with a bit more co-ordination - would ALGAO or IFA and the archivists professional body be able to talk and produce some sort of joint statement or guidelines?
They have the copyright form to cover themselves as copyright relates to the individual not corporate and this covers their archivists. They are quite happy to give permission where they can if you write to the collections manager. This means that they can be certain of owenrship/copyright and it is considered properly rather than on an ad hoc basis by a member of staff who may not have all the information.
She recommends "Copyright for Records Managers and Archivists" by Tim Padfield (available on Amazon)which has recently been updated to take account of digital and Freedom of Information issues. Apparently the flow diagrams in the back are invaluable and it is actually quite readable considering it is about copyright! Although I don't think it'll be top of my holiday reading list!
I'd agree that this is something that could really do with a bit more co-ordination - would ALGAO or IFA and the archivists professional body be able to talk and produce some sort of joint statement or guidelines?