Copyright in the digital age - BIALL Audioconference

I was very fortunate to be able to get a place on an audioconference being organised by the BIALL Solos group (BIALL has a number of spin-off groups for various parts of the country/types of librarian) on 24th Nov 2011. Although not officially a solo librarian any more, I used to be one for some time and so am still part of this group. When I read about this seminar it was of great interest to me, because copyright in the age of technology is a fast-changing and evolving field, and is something that I only have a basic knowledge of - but would like to learn more. One of my managers acts as copyright officer for the firm, therefore she is out 'go-to' person with any queries, but just for my own development, I would like to know more, and this free telephone conference lasting only an hour was the ideal way of doing so.


CLA License
The seminar was hosted by Chris Holland, who used to work at the Law Society. The first part was dedicated to going through the proposed changes to CLA Licenses (Copyright Licensing Agency). Every law firm needs to be in possession of a licence from the CLA in order to allow them to make photocopies and store materials within reason.  The problem with the proposed changes are not just about the potential 40% hike in price, but also because in terms of licensing digital content, this is something that we often have separate agreements for with each of our vendors. Lexis do not want CLA to license their content, nor do we as a firm wish to pay effectively twice for copyright licensing. Another issue that was raised is that firms are increasngly doing less and less hard copy photocopying as a whole, therefore people don't want to pay a full copyright license fee for copying that they rarely actually carry out.

It was clear from the vocal reaction of many participants that the CLA license is a thorny issue and it will be interesting to see how the situation is resolved. At the end of the day, the CLA as a body still need to make money, while the law firms are becoming more and more resistant to paying certain fees, as the way we copy has changed so much. Certainly in our firm I can understand why it is an issue; we really do not copy from hard copies on a regular basis at all anymore - almost everything is online in one shape or another.


NLA Licence
We then moved onto discussing the licensing arrangements that each firm has in place for newspaper usage. At present there a range of licenses depending on your organisation size/turnover and business needs. Changes that affect this side of things, however, are newspapers like The Times and the Financial Times, who have created a paywall in terms of access to their content, and perhaps the biggest issue to date is this year's NLA v Meltwater case. This was a case that attracted a lot of attention because the NLA maintained that users of a news aggregation service (Meltwater) needed a license to receive the info, even though it was just a headline and summary - the judge maintained that the NLA were in the right and their copyright was being infringed - this small amount of info can be classed as a substantial part of an article. But Meltwater were relying on the 'temporary copies' provision of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, which was meant to allow for the titles of work to be used - but things have moved on in the digital age, and this is why we are running into such problems nowadays.

There a number of licenses under discussion at present; it looks like we shall be hearing debate on both the CLA and NLA licenses for some time to come.

I definitely found this part of the discussion to be highly topical to what we do in the library, and it was interesting to learn more about what actual licensing agreements firms have in place, as this is something that at present is negotiated by our copyright officer (one of my managers as already mentioned). However, I think it is vital that in order to progress within this field, I acquire a good grasp of what the issues are in this respect, as adhering to copyright law is an extremely important part of managing any library.


General changes to copyright in the EU/UK
We spent the last half of the audioconference discussing what other issues are impacting upon copyright law at present. One of the biggest issues facing Intellectual Property law in the UK right now is the Hargreaves Review. This is a review of IP law that was commissioned by the Government in order to ascertain what works and what doesn't work/needs revision etc, in light of the digital age we now find ourselves in. Prof Hargreaves was pretty critical of copyright laws in the UK, stating that at present, it is a barrier to economic growth. This is said to be due to the difficulties that people face in obtaining permission to use copyrighted material. He proposes the establishing of a Digital Copyright Exchange, which would be an online, straightforward means of getting clearance rights. Vince Cable announced only a couple of weeks ago that Richard Hooper has been tasked with investigating how to take this proposal forward. The Government are strongly of the opinion that it will open up the UK's IP systems for the better.

Another major issue we touched upon is the EU Copyright Directive. Chris maintained that many believe that the copyright exceptions contained in this directive should be far more generally implemented in UK law - at present, they are not mandatory, only optional. Therefore at present, EU member states can effectively pick and choose what they want and don't want to implement! Hargreaves states that allowing all of the exceptions to be implented would also assist.


Orphan Works
Orphan works are basically pieces of work for which the copyright owner cannot be contacted. This presents a huge problem to an institution like the British Library who want to digitise their collection - how can they do so if they cannot obtain permission for certain works? Furthermore, getting in touch with each individual copyright owner is simply logistically impossible! This is an example of how current copyright restrictions are thought to be standing in the way of letting our cultural heritage evolve. It is certainly a valid point in my opinion, and one to which I hadn't given a lot of thought until now. It does seem rather silly that we have moved on in so many ways in the last 20 years - probably technology has evolved more in that short time than at any other time! - yet we remain bound by what now appear to be somewhat antiquated laws that certainly don't suit today's 'digital economy'.

Digital Economy Act 2010
The Digital Economy Act 2010 is an Act that was pushed through very quickly at the end of Gordon Brown's parliamentary reign. Its purpose is to completely overhaul Intellectual Property law and make it fit for the digital age. There was initially some doubt as to whether the new coalition government would take it forward, but it does seem that they are moderately keen to implement it. One of the main issues they wish to tackle is illegal file sharing/copyright infringement, and Chris mentioned that this does have an effect on libraries - although perhaps not quite so much for corporate libraries such as this one. However, he stated that many librarians are concerned that the legislation has not only been pushed through too quickly, but that the expectations of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are just too high. If ISPs are expected to tackle illegal file sharing, this could have implications for libraries that provide free wi-fi, for example. People believe that there is just too much onus being placed on ISPs to police the Internet - although copyright owners will be the ones who pass the info on to ISPs about people they believe are infringing their copyright.

The Digital Economy Act is an absolute minefield and is something that I have a vested interest in, given the work I do for our IP team. There is a huge amount of debate ongoing over it - we barely scraped the surface in our audioconference as was simply neither the time nor the place.


Conclusion
This was an absolutely fantastic seminar and I am so glad that I decided to participate. It gave me an excellent overview of the issues we face in terms of copyright, not just in the law library but on a more general level too. Chris Holland delivered the points in a concise and clear way that really enabled me to make sense of things. It is definitely an area about which I would love to learn more, and am considering speaking to my manager  who deals with this area, about getting a bit more involved/helping her out with it.

Image courtesy of: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Thing 7 - Face-to-face networks and professional organisations

Slowly catching up with the backlog and even managed to catch up with a couple of my favourite blogs: Joeyanne's posting on networking for introverts (really interesting stuff!) and another fellow cpd23-er's blog (Growth of a Librarian) - really enjoyed reading about how the concept of 'networking' can actually be a little cringey, but once you get past the rather horrendous images it conjures up, then there is a lot to get out of it....

As per my Thing 6 post, I'll just talk briefly about the face to face networking I have done, and then what I would like to do going forward, having read through the latest cpd23 blog - some great ideas there to explore.

1) BIALL
Without a doubt the most important association that I am part of is BIALL - British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. Membership is paid for by our firm as my managers fully support the opportunities BIALL provides in terms of events, seminars and the 'Legal Information Management' journal. I have been a member of this organisation in every law firm I have worked for, and consequently have attended quite a few seminars and other events, such as the annual cheese and wine party and a quiz night. All of these occasions offer the opportunity for networking. I have to admit I have had varied success in this respect, and I agree with many other cpd23 participants - networking as a concept is a daunting thought, and it can be - for many people, myself included - really difficult to walk into a room full of people and get talking to some or even one of them. It is definitely made easier when I attend the events with someone I know - but it's a double edged sword, because if you are with someone, it's all too easy just to talk to that same person all evening (especially in my case when the person I often go with is a close friend with whom I used to work - turns into a chance to catch up on the gossip!) Therefore I am the first to admit that although it's definitely harder to go to these events alone, you probably do get a little bit further in terms of meeting new people. A couple of months ago I attended an event on recruitment organised by BIALL, and because I was on my own, I was forced to make conversation with the person next to me, as well as a couple of other people in the coffee break. It was hard, but also satisfying because you do feel like you are raising your profile.

One thing I do find difficult to understand, however, is what defines successful networking?? Is it simply making conversation with a new person at such an event, or is it only defined as 'successful' if you come away with a business card/email address etc for that other person? Sometimes I feel it's simply not appropriate to start asking for contact details - again it simply feels to cliched and 'obvious'...but should we let that stop us? Is it better to just brazen it out?! It's unlikely the other person will refuse if you have been talking to them for some time - and after all, chances are they are hoping to 'network' just as much as you are!!!


2) CILIP
I think CILIP offers quite a few opportunities for networking, but I have to admit I have very little experience of them - the main reason being that I have only been a member of CILIP for a year or so. My current employer is the only law firm I have ever know who supports CILIP membership. There does seem to be a great deal of people out there in the law library world who don't rate CILIP at all - all of my previous managers included! (We won't go into that now though - save it for another posting!) Anyway, I am in the process of Chartership as you know, and the one CILIP event I attended was one which introduced the Chartership process. I found it really useful, and it was also a fantastic opportunity to get talking to other librarians/information professionals. I was the only law librarian at that session, and I ended up chatting to school librarians, NHS librarians....it was great! Everyone was really nice too and it was so enlightening to talk to people from those fields and hear about how different their jobs are on a daily basis to mine. So the upshot is - I am very 'pro' CILIP and definitely want to get involved in future events - not just those relating to Chartership.


3)CLIG
City Legal Information Group is a forum for legal information professionals that work in the London area. This group is very inexpensive to join, and they offer many events throughout the year, including a spring party and an AGM that members can go along to. I have attended seminars on areas of interest to the kind of research I perform - for example, they arranged a fantastic presentation by people from Bloomberg on corporate debt - not the most scintillating of topics, you might think (and you are probably right!!) - but it gave a really useful overview of the terminology used by lawyers in this line of work. Again at the end of these sessions they usually provide drinks and nibbles and thus the opportunity to network. I have got talking to a couple of other people at such an event - and because they are generally attended by people who are working in very close proximity to me, it does provide an opportunity to make connections at other law firms....and you never know how this might benefit you in the future....


Organisations I didn't know of
I loved reading the long list of organisations provided by Bethan in the Thing 7 post - I have decided to explore LIKE - London Information Knowledge and Exchange and the SLA - Special Libraries Association. I'll let you know my thoughts on these in due course...


Conclusion
I definitely think there is a lot to be said these days for networking, and I find it quite intriguing that the information profession have really picked up on this concept - it totally goes against all the old stereotypes of librarians who don't want to have any contact with others!! Although at times I think it does sound like a very cliched idea, nonetheless I feel that the society is developing in such a way in terms of virtual networking, that face to face networking is equally important - making connections and raising your profile can lead to many other things, be it simply just being able to ask a fellow professional for advice or assistance with an enquiry, or even find out about job leads. It's not something that I would say I actively enjoy at this stage, but this particular Thing has definitely given me a bit of inspiration to really make an effort to do more of it....

Image courtesy of: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=721