Copyright law columns for librarians

Do libraries have different copyright laws than other institutions or organizations? And are nonprofit and for profit libraries treated differently in the eyes of the copyright law? Where are some resources to read more about copyright law and librarians?

For several years now, Lesley Ellen Harris has been writing a column for Information Outlook, the publication of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). Some recent columns are now posted in the Resources section at www.Copyrightlaws.com. Future columns will be posted as they are published in Information Outlook. In case you are not a SLA member, this is an opportunity to read these columns.

Select Info Rights Columns Published in Information Outlook

July/August 2013: Congress Begins Review of U.S. Copyright Act

May/June 2013: Complying with Copyright When Using Social Media

July/August 2012: Volunteers are Copyright Owners, Too!

May/June 2012: US Copyright Law Refresher

March/April 2012: Using Primary and Secondary Resources to Understand Copyright Legislation

December 2011: The U.S. Copyright Office: The Next Two Years

The ADA Turns 20

The US Department is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act this week. I find this to be exciting; at the same time, it seems as though some people seem to find ADA difficult and punitive. While I'm sure that one can find bad outcomes of good intentions in any bureaucracy, the core message of the Act is to make goods and services more accessible to a population that is nearly one in five Americans, and growing.


As the Reaching Out to Customers with Disabilities section indicates that "The ADA asks public accommodations to take steps that are 'readily achievable' or are 'reasonable' or that do not constitute an 'undue burden' to enable people with disabilities to be their customers and clients."

I was at a business conference a few years ago, and a representative laid out some examples about how a business could become more customer friendly. A dry cleaner had a three-step walk up to the entrance. Not only would a ramp been expensive, it would not have been practical, because the angle would have been too steep. The solution: setting up a buzzer at the bottom of the stairs for an employee to come out to the customer and pick up or deliver the dry cleaning.

I was struck by the conversation I had with someone at my former church. There was a debate before I had gotten there as to whether they should build a ramp. Some folks indicated that there were no current parishioners who needed a ramp. The response: "Yes, and if we don't build the ramp, we never will." Subsequently, folks with walkers and wheelchairs and others for whom the few steps were a burden have made good use of that ramp.

Accessibility is not just a matter of "fairness" or "justice"; it's good business sense.
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Info about the Disability website and blog; the latter features some great stories.