From: "Hansen, Dave" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2016 13:47:21 +0000

I thought some people on this list might be interested in this report
that I worked on with the Harvard Library Office for Scholarly
Communication on legal strategies for orphan works. Note too the
announcement about the Harvard Orphan Works List project, which builds
off of some ideas in the report.

Orphan Works to Open Access: Harvard Library publishes report on
digitizing orphan collections

*******

AUGUST 12, 2016

The Harvard Library Office for Scholarly Communication (OSC) is
pleased to announce the release of a comprehensive literature review
on strategies for digitizing orphan works for open access.

An orphan work is any original work of authorship for which a good
faith, prospective user cannot readily identify and/or locate the
copyright owner—especially in situations, like digitization projects,
where permission from the copyright owner is legally necessary. Orphan
works can be books, photographs, movies, music, or any other
copyrighted media.

The Orphan Works Project is an attempt to solve the legal complexities
of the orphan works problem by identifying no-risk or low-risk ways to
digitize and distribute orphan works under U.S. copyright law. The
project’s goal is to help clear the way for U.S. universities,
libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions to
digitize their orphan works and make the digital copies open access.

In the spring of 2015, the OSC commissioned research from David
Hansen, Clinical Assistant Professor and Faculty Research Librarian at
University of North Carolina School of Law. David is no stranger to
the orphan works problem; he was one of primary facilitators for a
project to create the Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use of
Collections Containing Orphan Works for Libraries, Archives, and Other
Memory Institutions, released in December 2014.

David completed the report, titled Digitizing Orphan Works: Legal
Strategies to Reduce Risks for Open Access to Copyrighted Orphan
Works, in the spring of 2016. A panel of experts then read the draft
and commented on its significance, as well as its strengths and
weaknesses in methodology and presentation. These expert comments
ultimately helped improve the final edition.

Based in part on this report, Harvard Library is launching an
initiative to free orphan works in its collections by building a
carefully curated online list called the Orphan Works List (OWL). You
can see the first stages of the OWL project here:
http://bit.ly/ProjectOWL

We are excited by the possibility that this report and OWL could
change the face of the orphan-works problem in the United States. This
research was made possible by a grant to the Harvard Library from the
Arcadia Fund. We thank both the Arcadia Fund and the Harvard Library
for their support.

TEXT OF THE REPORT

https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/27840430


David R. Hansen
Clinical Assistant Professor & Faculty Research Librarian
UNC School of Law
[log in to unmask]
919.962.1605 (o)