INDICARE Article Flow: DRM & Libraries and Science

The latest INDICARE Monitor has been published. Most articles have been online for some time, and will soon be available in PDF. Now they can be read at the INDICARE site. The focus this month is DRM and "science, higher education, and libraries". Take your pick:

Preservation versus exploitation
Dilemmas in the reissue of historical recordings

Abstract: While the market for the reissue of historical recordings seems sufficiently attractive for there to be multiple reissues of the same recordings, there is the additional aspect of the preservation of the audio heritage. This is largely being undertaken by private actors who invest substantial time and money in audio restoration and research. A recent court decision acknowledges that such work is protected as intellectual property. Even so, different interests in this field are a barrier to enforcement of rights so that digital watermarks might prove the most acceptable solution.

DRM and developing countries
Comments on the INDICARE state of the art report

Abstract: CPTech endorses the findings of the State of the Art Report. It, however, criticizes that the report focuses on Europe only, and points out that DRM is a global issue that should receive more consideration in international fora, such as WIPO.

The role of digital rights management in library lending

Abstract: Libraries purchase and lend a wide variety of materials, from the most common of trade items to small press publications and even ephemeral resources. They also serve het-erogeneous communities with a wide range of interests, skills and resources. As cultural mate-rials become available in new technologies libraries endeavour to make these available to their target communities. From the very earliest digital products, libraries have worked to present these to their users. Libraries are now lending electronic books and audio books using technol-ogy that is very similar to that used for the sale of these same formats. But both libraries and publishers need a paradigm shift before digital materials achieve the revolution over the Guten-berg legacy.

Fair use licensing in library context
A privacy-preserving lending service with a revenue sharing business model

Abstract: Any technical solution intended to support library exemptions and other fair use provisions has to take into account national regulation, the local use context, and the requirements of business models. In this article a model is proposed for dealing with these challenges. It is exemplified for the library context claiming that it is possible to support library exemptions and still maintain a high level of privacy with DRM systems. Finally new business models for libraries are sketched based on revenue sharing using superdistribution and delivery chain tracking.

The role of digital rights management in Open Access

Abstract: Growing conviction that scientific progress will significantly benefit if scholarly articles and research papers are made freely available on the Web has given rise to the Open Access (OA) movement. While there is some awareness that OA articles may require digital rights management (DRM), there is currently only low-level interest in the topic, with many OA advocates maintaining that it has no relevance to OA. The issue is complicated by the fact that there are currently two ways in which research papers are made OA, each of which has different implications from a rights point of view.

QA Focus information for digital libraries
A case study of CC implementation

Abstract: Creative Commons (CC) licences are a way to clarify the conditions of use of a work and avoid many of the problems current copyright laws pose. This article describes how a CC licence has been used to maximise take-up of the deliverables from QA Focus, a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funded project. It then looks at CC's potential in the European academic sector and discusses relevant issues.