feb06c.indd


Ber nadette Murphy W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

2006 copyright update 
Section 108 of the Copyright Act permits librar­
ies and archives to make certain uses of copy­
righted materials in order to serve the public 
and ensure the availability of works over time. 
Among other things, section 108 allows librar­
ies and archives to make copies in specifi ed 
instances for preservation, replacement, and 
patron use. These provisions were drafted with 
analog materials in mind and, therefore, do not 
adequately address many of the issues unique 
to digital media, either from the perspective of 
rights­holders or libraries and archives. 

The Library of Congress this year con­
vened a “Section 108 Study Group” to prepare 
findings and make recommendations to the 
librarian of Congress by mid­2006 for possible 
alterations to the copyright law that refl ect 
current technologies. Several representatives 
of the library community are members of the 
study group. 

The study group is reaching out to the 
library, archives, rights­holder, and creative 
communities for input on recommendations 
for revising the current library and archives 
exceptions. As part of that process, the study 
group will host two days of roundtables in 
2006 for interested parties to offer suggestions 
and comments on how best to revise these 
exceptions for the digital era. 

Specific facets of these issues on which the 
study group seeks input and comments will be 
described in the upcoming “Federal Register” 
notice. Other issues relevant to these broad 
areas may be discussed at the roundtables. 
In addition, other general topics pertaining 
to section 108 exceptions – such as making 
copies upon patron request, interlibrary loan, 
eReserves, and licensing – may be the subject 
of future public roundtables. 

Roundtables will be held March 8 at the 
University of California­Los Angeles School of 
Law and March 16 in Washington, D.C. 

Bernadette Murphy is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: bmurphy@alawash.org 

Information on how to participate was 
published in the February “Federal Register” 
and made available on the Section 108 Study 
Group Web site at www.loc.gov/section108. 
(For those who cannot participate in person, 
comments may be submitted to the study 
group directly via the Web site.) ALA will 
post information about the roundtables on 
ALAWON and on its Washington Offi ce Web 
site at www.ala.org/copyright. 

DMCA Section 1201 rulemaking 
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) and the 
Music Library Association (MLA) fi led com­
ments on December 1, 2005, with the U.S. 
Copyright Office, requesting exemptions to the 
copyright law’s prohibition on circumvention 
of technological locks that control access to 
copyrighted works. 

Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium 
Copyright Act provides for exemptions from 
the prohibition on circumvention for users of 
“classes of works” who would be “adversely 
affected by virtue of such prohibition in their 
ability to make non­infringing uses” of those 
works. In their comments, LCA and MLA re­
quested two new exemptions plus a renewal 
of the four exemptions granted in 2003 by 
the Librarian of Congress. The exemptions 
from the anticircumvention provision will 
be announced in October 2006. See www. 
ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb 
/dmca/dmcasection1201.htm#2006 for more 
information. 

Copyright Advisory Network 
Are you someone who finds copyright issues 
interesting and challenging? Then please 
check out ALA’s Copyright Advisory Network. 
This Web site, at www.librarycopyright.net/, 
is a new way for librarians to learn about 
copyright and to get help when they have 
copyright troubles. The purpose of this site is 
to encourage librarians to discuss copyright 
concerns and seek feedback and advice from 
fellow librarians and copyright specialists. 

February 2006  107 C&RL News 

http:www.librarycopyright.net
www.ala.org/copyright
www.loc.gov/section108
mailto:bmurphy@alawash.org