what you own in case you cancel your subscription or the publisher stops supporting the resource.
A recent article describes a case where a law library purchased digital ownership to a database and then had to cancel the subscription due to budget cuts.[1] The library received the files in the database on two 500GB hard drives. Because owning the files did not include access to the vendor’s search mechanisms, the library had to hire a computer engineering doctoral student to create a basic search interface. The library ultimately had a functional database, but cancelling the database still affected the patrons’ experience accessing the resource.
Now let’s cover some basic questions.
Question: Is information on the World Wide Web subject to copyright protection?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Do the same rules apply to digital content and information in book or magazine format?
Answer: Generally, yes, but there are exceptions, such as sections 108(b) (unpublished works duplicated for purposes of preservation and security or for deposit for research use in another library or archives) and 108(c) (a replacement copy of a damaged, deteriorating, lost, or stolen published work) which restrict the places where digital copies may be read.
Question: May I send information from the Web to anyone I want, such as members of a listserv?
Answer: Think about the print world. You may not, under either fair use or the library exemption, photocopy a copyrighted journal article and send paper copies to an untold number of people without permission. That you can easily distribute digital articles to lots of people via e-mail does not mean that you can do so without infringing. This is true even when an author posts his or her article on the Web. Rather than download the text, send an e-mail message that includes a link. You achieve the same result,
- ↑ Sallie Smith, Susanna Leers, & Patricia Roncevich, Database Ownership: Myth or Reality?, 103 Law Lib. J. 233 (2011).
