Copyright struggles: providing access vs. protecting rights | The Observatory | Earlham College Pressroom

"The central issue [when colleges digitize materials from their archives] is access, not income; it is expanding use, not protecting rights. The objections being raised by the college and its lawyer, wholly focused on protecting rights, may wind up impeding access by frustrating an agreement among the colleges and the digitizing company....The "protecting rights to protect income" understanding is everywhere triumphant and the "how can we provide affordable access" understanding has been stuffed into a trunk. I suspect the one college and its attorney do not even realize that they could look at this case through another lens, so much in thrall are they to the dominant copyright "rights portecting" paradigm. They have forgotten that access is as much (or even more) their responsibility as protecting rights. They have even forgotten that they do not "own" the physical materials in question, but rather hold them in trust as a gift from the individuals and organizations that donated the materials to the archives. Those who gave the materials are unquestionably interested in providing wider access...."