The National Digital Library Program and the Library of
Congress respect copyright and other legal rights associated with
materials under consideration for dissemination over the Internet. The
program makes items from Library of Congress collections available
online after a full risk assessment has determined the legal status of
items and identified rights owners or other parties to the extent
possible. Permission or authorization [as in "no objection"] is sought
from known rights owners or other parties for rights such as
copyright, publicity, and privacy.
Many collections at the Library raise no apparent rights
concerns when considered for digitization. For example, copyright is not
a concern in the case of
works by employees of the federal government or for works for which
available copyright protection has expired, although the content of
such works may still raise publicity or privacy concerns. Items in other
collections have unclear or indeterminate provenance, like similar
materials in museum or archives everywhere. The Library's legal
assessment process relies heavily on the substantive knowledge of
collections experts in special-collections divisions like Prints and
Photographs and the American Folklife Center. Information provided
by these experts augments available copyright or catalog records
and acquisition documents that may note donor restrictions or other
limits on access or use. The legal review depends upon variables such
as the state of collections, the extent of available information, and the
nature of the medium, e.g., dramatic works, sound recordings, or film.
This approach to assessing rights inherent in collections selected for
digitization by the Library has resulted from extensive discussion with
the Library's General Counsel and senior members of the U.S.
Copyright Office's staff. The Library has sought an approach to
responsible use of its collections in a manner consistent with its duties
and mission. This process is flexible, responding to the idiosyncratic
nature of the collections and available information.
Materials currently available through American Memory range from items
for which the Library is unaware of any copyright or other legal
concerns to items where permission or authorization was sought from
copyright or other rights holders before the materials were presented
on the Library's World Wide Web site. Prospective applicants for Phase II of
the Digital Libraries Initiative who would like to make use of the digital
collections made available by the Library are
encouraged to read carefully the general statement on copyright and
other rights provided on the American Memory home page and to
consult the specific restriction statements provided for each
collection. Although the Library will assist grant
recipients in identifying owners and other parties, the Library cannot
provide legal advice regarding the content.