Law Commons^™

The Tools Of Our Trade, Richard Leiter

Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library

During the past 30 years, computers and other digital tools have evolved from scientific curiosities that promised to make our lives easy and paperless and threatened to make libraries go away to ubiquitous means of communication, research, entertainment, news, and much, much more. Access to technology for librarians today is as critical as having access to leather-bound books once was for the earliest librarians. In order to communicate with peers, patrons, and colleagues and to conduct legal research and create scholarship, today we need a device that lets us “see” the communication or information. This article explores the changing role …

Copyright Small Claims, U.S. Copyright Office

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

It appears beyond dispute that under the current federal system small copyright claimants face formidable challenges in seeking to enforce the exclusive rights to which they are entitled. The Copyright Office therefore recommends that Congress consider the creation of an alternative forum that will enable copyright owners to pursue small infringement matters and related claims arising under the Copyright Act. In light of the state court tradition of referring to claims of modest economic value as “small claims,” many have adopted that term to reference the nature of the claims that are the focus of this Report, as does the …

How To Obtain Permission, United States Copyright Office

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

How to obtain permission to use or adapt a copyrighted work in the United States. One way to make sure your intended use of a copyrighted work is lawful is to obtain permission or a license from the copyright owner.

First step: Research copyright status

Next step: Contact copyright owner

Much Ado About Authentication, Richard Leiter

Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library

Much can be said about how libraries are adapting and new ways that we can continue to adapt to the rise in importance of digital resources and services. But there is a unique challenge that law libraries face that this article will attempt to address: the problem of authenticating digital legal materials. This necessity of authenticating legal materials has been articulated many times. However, there may actually be no need for authentication at all.

The question of authentication is a very important one to answer because law libraries have the responsibility of providing accurate versions of primary legal materials. It …

Biodiversity Heritage Library, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Deanna Marcum

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), created in 2006, is the result of a collaboration of ten natural history museum and botanical garden libraries seeking to digitize core taxonomic literature and to make it free and openly available throughout the world. Today, the BHL includes fifteen member institutions whose efforts have shaped a collection of over 60,000 titles. It is supported through a combination of membership dues, in-kind support from member institutions, contributions from the user community, and direct support from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, and it reaches tens of thousands of users each year. While managing the complex partnership has …