Ethical and Legal Considerations for the Preservation of Digital Content
Annotated Bibliography
Annotations created by: Alicia Byrd, Kelley Gorniak, Paul Bishop, and Nina Fancher
Ethical:
This article examines current strategies of and challenges to the digital preservation of cultural materials in Nigeria. An emphasis on the issues faced by education and information centers provides a context from which solutions focused on training and collaboration are recommended. The detailed nature of this article expands on a multitude of digital preservation related issues that can be found in many rapidly developing countries around the world.
This article explores how libraries and museums in the Netherlands have adapted to the digital age and speculates on how they may continue to evolve in the future. The curation and preservation of born digital objects has created many new technological and organizational challenges for Dutch cultural institutions. The author provides practical guidance on how to secure long-term access to these resources, which could be used in similar situations internationally.
This article discusses how easily digital heritage can be lost. A comparison to the destruction of the ancient Library of Alexandria in Egypt underscores the potential tragedy of taking for granted access to electronic information. The author provides sensible arguments for why preservation programs, like the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, are critical for ensuring that data is not lost as it is transferred from one generation to the next.
This article focuses on the ethical considerations of digital preservation and examines how this subjected has changed over time. Though libraries have traditionally been entrusted to preserve the cultural/informational record, it is noted that there has often been a difference in opinion about best practices. The author stresses the importance of striving towards a modern, cohesive set of ethical principles when it comes to digital preservation and goes on to provide a list of considerations for librarians to explore.
This article seeks to provide an understanding of how context impacts the preservation of digital culture. The authors expand on the findings of a research project done in Ghana that examined how certain factors (attitude, resources, management, policy) effected the preservation of digital cultural data from the area. Recognizing that these factors can profoundly help or hinder the preservation process is of great importance and it should be known that they could vary widely depending on location.
The digital Public Library of America, DPLA is a grand and ambitious endeavor. DPLA aims at gathering, preserving and centrally relocated some of America’s unknown cultural archives and share them with the public for free. Its efforts have caught the attention and support of digital libraries across the country and even some high institutions of learning like Harvard University are on board. In short, DPLA takes existing digital collections and house them at one online site. Currently, repositories are spread everywhere. DPLA, aims to change this. While noble, one criticism of DPLA suggests it threatens the vitality and relevance of small libraries already confronted with budgetary restraints.
Employees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation join members of the New Mexico State Library to visit tribal librarians and their respective tribal communities. Through a series of active listening and engaging conversations, the technological needs of participating tribal communities was discovered. Some held interests in teaching younger tribe members their Native language. Others would use technology to further artistic expression while others focused on culturally specific digital resources. While the interest in technology and its many benefits are high, reality shows many tribes do not follow technological trends. There are issues unique to tribal life that contribute to this phenomena. Tribal members have more important and pressing issues to be concerned with the ideas of libraries and public access are not organic to tribal life. Finally, tribal leaders fear technology will distract younger tribal members from Native culture.
This article identifies several issues that impact the ability to properly preserve digital materials at a selection of cultural institutions in Flanders, Belgium. The reader can extrapolate that technological obsolescence and underdeveloped policies are a concern even in a highly developed western European nation. This type of case study could be replicated elsewhere to raise further awareness of the issues at hand and show how it is prevalent across many areas of the world.
This article identifies and discusses the findings of an investigation into Botswana’s digital preservation efforts. The results of the study allow for a greater understanding of the types of digital materials that require preservation. By providing detailed analysis of current issues- both technological and ethical, the authors are able to make well-informed recommendations for solutions to major preservation related challenges.
This article stresses the value of preserving digital heritage for future generations throughout the world. The authors seek to find the balance between the ever-increasing amounts of data being created digitally and being able to ensure that these materials will remain accessible for years to come. A major emphasis is placed on the importance of understanding the complex ethical and political-economic aspects of digital preservation in our global society.
This paper presents a moral approach to South African practices of web archiving in its North and (developing) South regions. Central to this issue, is the belief that websites, as symbols of contemporary culture, possess content significantly equal to that of printed material and should be archived. This belief extends to personal websites containing baby photos, wedding, graduations, the sharing of religious, political and social perspectives and other items deemed highly personal. Regardless of how trivial these items may be, they reflect modern times and as such are significant for future access much like today’s scholars, students and historians study ephemeral printed materials of the past. Since this material is often removed and isn’t reproduced on various servers, the need to archive becomes urgent. This issue and more presents moral dilemmas between its North and (developing) South region. Is the arching of websites legal? Unlike developed countries, developing countries may not enjoy the same legal protections of copyright law. If permission to archive is not granted, inevitably the process of archiving will infringe on the rights of the website's owner if permission is not allowed. Concerning websites in the South, they tend to be ephemeral. Even if permission is sought the website may no longer exist by the time permission is granted. Institutions must then decide to archive sites without permission to avoid loss, is this practice legal? Another issue, citizens of the South lack the requisite skills to monitor archiving activities and bring legal suit if necessary. Should capacity for the South to archive its own material be created or should institutions in the North archive these materials with no input from the South? These moral questions and more deserve consideration.
Research data comes in many forms. Ephemeral materials of yester years provide raw data for today’s study. Much of this material is digitized and available online. Therefore, the preservation of websites for cultural heritage deserves a look. However, many issue arise and they aren’t all technical in nature. The threats to preservation of websites center of soft issues. That is to say, issues that are political, legal or moral. Turning the lens to South Africa, this paper draws from two projects sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The first project, Political Communication Web Archiving project, PCWA focuses on the long term preservation and access of websites of political groups throughout the world. The second project is managed by the Foundation for library and Information Service Department, FLISD. Its primary function is to anticipate the legal deposit of a variety of websites and other electronic publications. Each project confronted moral consideration worthy of attention.
In 1996, the Commission on Preservation and Access joined with the Research Libraries group to create a task force on digital archiving. In short, the task force revealed a greater concern, how members of society organize themselves for effective navigation in digital arenas. The task force shares its findings and offers recommendations for newly discovered challenges. The reactions of members of the library, archive and education communities to the findings of the report are captured in this paper.
This article explores the concept of permanence, as it relates to digital data and the preservation practices of cultural institutions. Recognizing the dynamic relationship between the constant progress of technology and the increased presence of digital cultural, the challenges faced by the cultural heritage sector are clearly illustrated. The author goes on to explain the rational used by New Zealand’s Turnbull Library, as it has attempted to adapt its selection, acquisition, and preservation practices to the 21st century. The detailed insights gained here could easily be applied to other institutions facing the same issues.
The digital preservation of information has many challenges. As countries all over the world participate in active archiving practices, an inequality exists across geographical boundaries and exposes issues that demand a reevaluation of digital information actions. Many of these issues are ethical in nature and include topics of intellectual property protections, data integrity, authentication, privacy, confidentiality, access and a dearth of trained professional able to satisfy the increasing skills for digital archiving.
The Digital Imaging Project of South Africa, DISA detects a form of online colonialism. Digital preservation in South Africa resembles “a new form of cultural imperialism in the guise of preservation and access: an imperialistic and colonizing culture of digital technology.” If this is true, it stands to reason that ethical issues abound. Chiefly, the presence of digital technology inevitably invites changes leading to the expedited move toward globalization. American culture is overly represented on the web with English becoming the lingua Franca of the worldwide web. In addition, unequal access, the pillaging of African cultural heritage at the hands of American and European led efforts. Ethical issues are also found in selection, access and long term preservation.
Increasingly, technology makes it hard for authors to monitor changes to their work. Presumably, authors enjoy the protections of moral rights. Here, Rajan defines moral rights as, “…the premise of moral rights is that creative work is in essence personal, and give rise to a privileged relationship between an author and his work.” She further asserts, that moral rights are distinguished based on characteristics beyond economic, ownership or personal rights. It also suggests that an author’s name should not be separated from the author's work. Finally, any modifications cannot jeopardize the original work. The proliferation of technology presents barriers in monitoring and tracking changes or use of an author’s work. It would now appear as though technology concerned with preservation, duplication, modification and alteration of original work render all moral rights null and void. The solution rests in collaborative efforts of authors and their audience.
This paper first appeared at the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians, BIALL conference in 1998. It presents both sides of an argument regarding stricter laws to protect authors and their work. This view is polar opposite to the inquiry into the effectiveness of more stringent legislation. Arguments for both sides are presented here along with an exploration of moral rights and more.
Formerly known as the Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project, CAMP, it was renamed in 2010 to the Cooperative Africana Materials Project. CAMP is comprised of Africana Librarians from North American institutions, U.S based African Studies Association and The Center for Research Libraries. CAMP’s focus is the preservation and gathering of African ephemera, newspapers and serials not found in U.S institutions. By no means does this paper suggest an amicable relationship between CAMP and laws protecting the export of national cultural heritage in Africa. It is at this moment that issues of moral considerations appear. The disproportionate sponsorship of Europe and The United States leading archiving efforts in Africa does not solicit the involvement of Africans in securing the preservation of their cultural heritage. An interesting irony exposes the fact that internet connectivity remains an issue is certain parts of African. In effect, many Africans wouldn’t have access to these archives. Another issue is what historian Premesh Lalu dubs a “virtual stampede” for African culture. The overwhelming presence of European and American institutions efforts toward archiving of African heritage is not without bias and the question must be asked, where is the balance between digitization and pillaging of African heritage? In other words, when is enough, enough?
This article discusses the potential global reach of digital culture. The preservation efforts of the Indian government in regard to cultural heritage resources allows these materials to not only be preserved for posterity, but also makes them accessible to interested people all over the world. The author expands on the idea that the sharing of culture is inherently valuable and provides details about several Indian government lead initiatives that could be adapted to other interested institutions to further encourage a global exchange.
Legal:
Anderson’s article takes a look at what copyright law is and the changes that has affected it in the past. Explanations of what fair use and first sale are offered providing background to the issues involved with copyright law and preservation of digital objects. Anderson also covers legislation such as section 108 that affect library reproduction rights, giving insight into the legal issues libraries must considered on a daily basis concerning preservation of digital objects.
Ayre and Muir’s article explores a project that looked at the effects of copyright law and how it affects preservation of digital objects. The project looks at legislation in the United Kingdom and provides insight to how other countries are handling this issue. The problems and recommendations that Ayre and Muir discuss can assist with looking at the legal issues involving preservation of digital objects here within the U.S.
Gasaway looks at various types of works such as orphan works and public domains and how these are affected by copyright laws. Section 108 of the Copyright Act is also discussed as well as the subsections included within it. The article reviews how a library may go through the copyright process and the various types of content and how they may be affected differently by copyright. Gasaway’s article contains information about digital content and copyright law, including Section 108, and how the legal considerations have affected libraries.
Kastellec discusses the limitations of preservation of digital objects including copyright law. The shortfalls of copyright as well as law revisions is also looked at. This article provides resource to the uncertainty that libraries can face and provides an idea to how certain resources will be impacted due to outdated legislature.
This document is a notice from the Federal Register calling for a roundtable study group with the Library Congress to discuss issues pertaining to Section 108 of the Copyright Act. The study group was sponsored by the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program and the U.S. Copyright Office. Section 108 contains information related to the exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives under the Copyright Act. The purpose of the study group is to identify revisions or updates that ought to be made to Section 108 in order to adapt to the rapid growth in digital information technology. Some of the topics addressed include: eligibility for Section 108, amendments to subsections of Section 108, new preservation exceptions, and website preservation exceptions.
Mahesh and Mittal’s article covers copyright law issues. The legislation that is discussed within the article that pertains to digital preservation is the international Berne Convention, the World Intellectual Property Organization and World Copyright Treaty, and the Indian Copyright Act. The article also looks at what to consider when creating a born digital object. Mahesh and Mittal’s article provides the reader with background to international law and helps one to consider born digital objects and the legal issues with preserving these digital objects.
Muir provides information on both problems and solutions to copyright law in both the United Kingdom and United States. The article contains a table that displays the problems associated with copyright and strategies used for preservation. Muir’s article also talks about exceptions to copyright and solutions that could assist with the issue. This article provides useful information on solutions as well as exception to the legal considerations when preserving digital objects.
Riley-Reid’s article emphasizes the issues of out of date laws that were created when materials were mainly in print. The article discusses how the laws do not translate to digital objects and the impacts this can have on preservation. Riley-Reid also considers amendments that have been made to copyright laws and examines first sale and Section 108 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The article provides detail to Section 108 and contains examples that are useful to considering current copyright issues and the preservation of digital materials.
Seadle provides insight into the other side of copyright. This article reviews the various types of copyright holders and the types of copyright they may have. Seadle gives readers the opportunity to think about the copyright holder instead of the library and how they may be affected by the laws or how they benefit from copyright. The article covers both the ethical and legal sides of preservation of digital content.
Smith’s article provides an alternate solution to the issue of preservation and copyright law. Smith believes that libraries and publishers should work together and assist each other with the issues they face concerning preserving and copyright. The article also gives the side of the copyright holder or the publisher and the issues that libraries could assist them with. This article can be used as a source of alternate ideas for the legal issues concerned with preserving digital objects to some of the similar ones that are provided by other sources.
This document is a hearing held before the U.S. House of Representatives pertaining to some of the exceptions and amendments in Section 108 of the Copyright Law for libraries and archives. There is a particular focus on preserving items of cultural significance that may be deteriorating or held in obsolete formats. Another significant topic discussed in the hearing includes the opportunities and risks involved with mass digitization along with orphan works. The hearing contains testimonials from several experts in the conservation field who provide their recommendations for amending Section 108 of the Copyright Law.
This hearing held before the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, discusses some important issues related to scholarly publication access. Since the advent of the internet, scholarly publications have become available online instead of a traditional print journal that was purchased by subscribers. This hearing addresses a recent movement to make federally funded research accessible to the public for little to no charge. The rationale behind this line of reasoning is that tax payers have already funded the research, and therefore should not have to pay to access it.
This document created by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform discusses the Electronic Message Preservation Act. The Electronic Message Preservation Act expands on the Federal Records Act and Presidential Records Act. The Federal Records Act ensures that all federal agencies are preserving records that document essential transactions within the agency. The Electronic Message Preservation Act updates the Federal Records Act to include emails and electronic communications. The Electronic Message Act also addresses deficiencies that have occurred in previous presidential administrations where essential emails have been deleted from servers and/or improperly preserved.
This report created by the Committee on House Administration addresses the reauthorization of the Library of Congress’s sound recording and film preservation programs. These programs are intended to preserve sound recordings and films of national and cultural significance. The National Film Preservation Program was created in 1988 and has been reauthorized several time in order to build a national film registry. Similarly, the Sound Recording Preservation Program was created in 2000 to deal with similar issues of national and culturally significant recordings being lost due to deterioration or other factors. These programs are currently reauthorized until 2016.
This document is a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 that addresses the Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act of 2003 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. A panel of experts testified during the hearing and discussed some of the intricacies related to Fair Use under the Copyright Law and how this has been affected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In particular, some of the experts addressed the issue of the entertainment industry using CSS encryption on DVDs, and whether consumers should be allowed to make a back-up copy of a copyrighted work.
This article assesses some of the important issues related to preserving electronic records for government agencies. In particular, the article evaluates the effectiveness of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to oversee the entire lifecycle of government records. Included in this assessment is the proposal of alternative technologies for long-term record preservation. The article also discusses some of the models being used by various agencies to preserve their records, such as the Open Archival Information System.
This law allows for the Librarian of Congress to establish the National Recording Registry. The purpose of the registry is to preserve and house recording of national and cultural significance. The Librarian of Congress is charged with creating criteria for inclusion into the National Recording Registry which includes accepting recommendations from the general public for inclusion. Additionally, the Librarian of Congress will create a seal that will identify recordings as part of the registry. The law also addresses the Sound Recording Preservation Programs and the creation of a Sound Recording Preservation Board.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 addresses issues related to the information technology industry and intellectual property. It is an attempt to update laws in order to adapt to the emerging digital technologies. In particular, this act seeks to protect intellectual property owner rights, and deter circumventing technological protection measures. There are important exemptions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for librarians and archivists working in the nonprofit sector. These exemptions are intended to allow librarians to use the latest technology to preserve deteriorating manuscripts and other works. There are also exemptions for libraries to possess copyrighted works in order to determine whether they would like to acquire the work for permissible use.
This document from the U.S. Court of Appeals covers a lawsuit filed against HathiTrust and a variety of university presidents. HathiTrust is a digital library repository for books and documents that a group of universities allowed Google to scan into digital documents that can be accessed via a database. Included in this repository are several items that are still protected under copyright law. Several authors and author groups sued HathiTrust and the universities involved for copyright infringement. However, the founders of HathiTrust argue that use of the copyrighted material is protected under the fair use doctrine.
Whalen’s article introduces questions that librarians should work through when considering the copyright status of an object. The article also discusses the possible outcomes when it comes to deciding whether an object’s copyright is of concern or not. Whalen provides useful information on the contracts or negotiations that librarians may face with concern to copyright. The article provides useful information in relation to the legal considerations of the preservation of digital content.
