Copyright Conundrums: Rights Issues in the Digitization of Library Collections

This chapter addresses the copyright conundrum issues that may arise in the digitization of materials held in academic library collections. Developing a clear understanding of the copyright status of digitized materials can be complicated, frustrating, and even (at times with orphan works) impossible. Nonetheless, when curating digitized library collections, a copyright review and management plan should be followed in order to both maximize the availability of open access and public domain items and minimize the confusion of researchers and the public when utilizing such digitized objects. A copyright review protocol will aid librarians in making decisions regarding what rights metadata to include on a digital work and will, in turn, aid patrons in determining how they can utilize the work.Ope