AARL

Guest editorial: Copyright: the current issue for academic libraries?

Alex Byrne and Evelyn Woodberry

The enactment and implementation of the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act has profoundly affected academic libraries through its introduction of the right of communication and its harmonisation of legislation across media. In this special issue of AARL, two articles focus on that legislation and its immediate effects. Nick Smith discusses the general experience of libraries during the first year since commencement of the Digital Agenda amendments while Michael Lean and Carolyn Young explore the practical aspects of compliance in an Australian university.

Tom Cochrane takes a broader perspective in his paper on the mechanisms for developing copyright law in Australia and notes that the Digital Agenda amendments will be reviewed very soon. He mentions a specific question which has recently been investigated, the challenges of reconciling copyright and contract law. It is an issue of heightened importance for academic libraries when ever more information resources are licensed for use under contract law rather than being made available under copyright law. Evelyn Woodberry explores that issue in her paper.

Two more papers take a different perspective. Kathy Bowrey writes as an academic author, albeit one with more than a passing knowledge of the law. Her view is complemented by that expressed by Patricia Layzell Ward writing as the editor of Library Management but with the benefit of her practice as an academic in library and information studies. Their views provide other insights into the trends in copyright law and its consequences for all stakeholders: authors, publishers, libraries, readers and, in the scholarly context, universities. An even broader approach is taken by Alex Byrne who examines the interrelationship between copyright and human rights.

Together, these papers demonstrate the profound and pervasive effects of copyright on all who are involved in scholarly communication. The retention and extension of copyright ownership is turning scholarly communication from a genre in which intellectual content was emphasised into a communicative medium in which commercial returns have become crucial, as in the mass media. For many commercial scholarly journals, the focus has shifted from intellectual return on investment primarily for the authors - through readership, comment and citation - to commercial return primarily for the publishers - and without bearing the cost of creation. This highlights a major concern with the actual ownership of the intellectual property which has been produced and refereed through the scholarship and effort of academic authors and paid for by universities and funding agencies.

The effects are especially marked for academic libraries in Australia, as elsewhere. While the challenge of handling ever escalating prices for scholarly journals, the 'scholarly communications crisis', has received considerable attention, other effects are no less important. They include concerns about long term access and responsibility for indefinite archiving, restrictive contractual clauses and the transition from print to electronic means of publication and access. Behind these concerns lies an extensive range of technological, managerial and cultural challenges. In all these respects, it is clear that copyright might be considered to be the current issue for academic libraries.

In tackling this complex and difficult issue and its underlying challenges, librarians of today and the future will be seeking to emulate the achievements of two distinguished colleagues who died while this issue of AARL was nearing completion. Ali Sharr and Margaret Trask were giants of our profession whose achievements laid the foundations for the high standards of Australian libraries and information services. The international recognition of the expertise and effectiveness of Australian librarianship is largely due to the work of Margaret, Ali and other colleagues. We shall reach further because we stand on their shoulders!

Alex Byrne and Evelyn Woodberry were the guest editors for this special issue of AARL