Digitization and Copyright

Ready, Set, Digitize Series – South Central Regional Library Council (SCRLC)

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 19, 2007, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm

Location: Country Inn and Suites, Cortland, NY

Instructor: Peter B. Hirtle, CUL Intellectual Property Officer, Cornell University Library

Registration: $30/SCRLC and CLRC members; $35 non-members; (lunch and refreshments included.)

Support: This training is funded in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

When selecting material for digitization, copyright law can be an area of great uncertainty and risk. Even in the best of circumstances, the copyright status of some material, or the legality of a repository making the material available on the Web, will be uncertain. This workshop will explore what other strategies a digitization program can follow to minimize the risks inherent when publishing material on the web.

Topics covered will include an introduction to basic copyright law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including “fair use” and “public domain” issues; methods for assessing the copyright status of materials; and issues associated with particular formats. We will also discuss what options you have to protect your own intellectual property.
Peter B. Hirtle is the Intellectual Property Officer for the Cornell University Library. Hirtle also serves as the bibliographer for United States and General History and is the Technology Strategist for the Library’s Instruction, Research, and Information Services Division. Previously, Hirtle served as Director of the Cornell Institute for Digital Collections where he explored the use of emerging technologies to expand access to cultural and scientific sources through the development and management of distinctive digital collections. Hirtle has an MA in History and an MLS with a concentration in archival science. He is a frequent speaker at professional meetings, and has taught workshops on the Internet, digital imaging, and copyright. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Society of American Archivists, and chairs its Working Group on Intellectual Property.

About the Ready Set, Digitize Series:

Ready, Set, Digitize is a series of one-day workshops cosponsored by SCRLC and CLRC (Central NY Library Resources Council). These training events are designed to develop a regional cadre of people able to digitize and manage resources to contribute to their libraries’ collections and the SCRLC regional repository. This training is funded in part by Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds, awarded to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Library Camp NYC

Baruch College (New York, NY) will be hosting Library Camp NYC, a free event on Tuesday, August 14, 2007, from 9 am to 4 pm. This event will be run as an unconference and will focus on finding solutions to common problems and issues in libraries. For those who may be unfamiliar with unconferences, here are the basics:

• The program is determined by the actual attendees of the conference. The meeting starts off with each attendee introducing him or herself and detailing what topics he/she would like to see covered in a discussion group that day. A meeting facilitator helps finalize the agenda (attendees may end up voting on what discussion groups are needed) and a schedule for the day is mapped out.
• Facilitators help keep individual discussion groups moving along.

At the last library camp event, Library Camp East, which has held in September 2006, I found this informal approach to conferences to be really exciting and fun. If you’d like to read more about this event or past ones, please visit the Library Camp NYC wiki:

http://librarycampnyc.wikispaces.com/

If you are planning to attend, please sign up on the wiki. Attendees have already begun to propose topics they want to hear about or lead a discuission on. You can review those topics at this page of the wiki:

http://librarycampnyc.wikispaces.com/Discussion+Topics

What is a “Library Camp?”

“Cataloging 411″ Workshop

Yesterday, the semi-annual SMART Spring Workshop was held at the Pioneer Library System (thanks so much PLS staff, everything was wonderful!). Maggie Horn and John Myers did a tag team presentation of “Cataloging 411: How I learned that catalogers are NOT trying to make my life difficult!”. The workshop was an excellent mix of lecture, very hands-on exercises, and question and answer. I was in desperate need of a cataloging refresher, and this really did the job. It also answered some (OK, more than some!) nagging questions I had and made me appreciate the art of cataloging in a whole new way. If you have a chance to catch “Cataloging 411″ with John and Maggie in the future, I highly recommend signing up.

SMART President’s Message – Spring 2007

Dear SMARTies,

Looking out the window of my office here in the Finger Lakes region, I’m delighted to finally see the grass again after months of winter weather! The snow is easing up and calendars are filling up with a variety of workshops and training sessions taking place across New York this spring.

As SMART members look at the variety of opportunities available, anyone looking for assistance with basic cataloging skills or a cataloging refresher course will want to make sure Cataloging 411 or, “How I learned that catalogers are NOT trying to make my life difficult” is on the calendar. Attendees will learn cataloging first-hand from seasoned catalogers (and SMARTies) Maggie Horn and John Myers. Repeating their successful workshop first presented at the 2006 NYLA Conference in Saratoga Springs, Cataloging 411 combines presentation with hands-on exercises and is sure to include SMART’s famous humor and fun! The workshop will be held May 9th at the Pioneer Library System in Canandaigua. Registration form is available through our Spring 2007 issue of SMART News and Notes.

Looking forward to this year’s NYLA Conference, make SMART programs the smart choice! This year’s SMART line-up emphasizes hot new technologies libraries and library staff are facing, choosing, and employing. Go beyond blog basics and expand your library’s online presence with It Came from the Blog! and take a 2.0 approach to information organization with Social Bookmarking and Tagging. Nylink’s Lynne Graziadei is back for a second year and will follow up last year’s metadata program with an in-depth look at Encoded Archival Description in Accessible Archives: EAD. Open Source Software and its future in libraries takes center stage as this year’s Rudi Weiss lecturer, Edward Corrado from The College of New Jersey, presents The Library is Now… Open! Find details on these and other SMART conference programs inside your newsletter.

SMART Board members from libraries and library systems across the states are hard at work on these and other initiatives, including NYLA membership, legislative and advocacy issues, and the creation of the SMART archives. We always look forward to meeting more of the SMART membership and hope to see many of you this May in Canandaigua!

Sara Greenleaf, SMART President

SMART News & Notes Spring 2007 Issue Now Available!

John Myers of Schaffer Library at Union College has published the Spring 2007 issue of SMART News & Notes. You can find the latest issue, as well as past issues on the SMART section of the NYLA website.

Inside this issue:

• President’s message
• New Format
• Legislative Update
• Nominate a SMART officer
• SMART Mentoring
• SMART Fellow Award
• Members
• RDA Update
• SMART blog
• SMarchives
• SMART Professional Achievement Award nomination
• SMART Professional Development Award for Technical Services application
• Spring Workshop – Cataloging 4-1-1
• SMART officers, representatives and committee chair

Newsletter format change!

This is the first newsletter to be delivered primarily as an electronic document, delivered to your email inbox. I hope it proves more convenient for you. It will be important to maintain a current email address with your NYLA membership data so as to ensure you receive it. At last count we had fewer than a dozen members without email addresses on record, which gives us the best email coverage of any section! Members without email will still continue to receive a paper copy.

Library of Congress Blog!

Library of Congress has a blog. Just thought I would share.

http://www.loc.gov/blog/

Check it out when you get the chance!

Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services

Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services, a new blog curated by Gerry McKiernan at Iowa State University Library, is worth keeping an eye on. Posts about Elgg, Kyte, and Facebook/Social Networking Literature are well-written and very interesting. Let’s hope Gerry keeps up the good work!