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Archiver > SCT-ISLEOFMULL > 2006-07 > 1154095842


From: Linda of PGFF <>
Subject: Re: [Mull] Take copyright seriously
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:10:42 -0400
References: <44CA0F0A.2000107@telusplanet.net>
In-Reply-To: <44CA0F0A.2000107@telusplanet.net>


Hello Mull List,

As a former staff member of the US Library of Congress, I was also
shocked to read that copyright claims were likely to be ignored by Mull
list members. I am very glad to see specific clarification of the
points at issue here and I hope they will be taken very seriously.
Copyright isn't just some silly concept: it's about someone's hard work
to research or create a work. I'm watching to decide whether I want to
continue to be associated with the Mull list, or not.

Best,
Linda

Merle & Ida King wrote:
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: {not a subscriber} Mull Museum and copyright
> Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 22:34:57 -0600
> From: "Jean Whittaker" <>
> To: <>
>
>
>
>> From Jean Whittaker, Librarian/archivist, Isle of Mull Museum.
> Lousie MacDougall asked me a few days ago to make clear the position
> of the Mull Museum on the question of copyright and the following is
> the statement that I asked her to make public on the web. However, I
> now see that Ida King has made a final (if not-quite-final) statement
> on the subject which appears to imply that it is the official policy
> of the Mull List to ignore copyright restrictions. Could we have
> clarification on this please, as it quite clearly affects the Museum's
> own access policy. The implication appears to be that the Mull Museum
> is making the sort of fuss that no large repository would. I beg
> leave to point out the National Archives of Scotland mark their
> photocopies with the following rubric: "The National Archives of
> Scotland. Copyright - not to be reproduced without permission." I
> rather think that they mean it.
>
>
> ISLE OF MULL MUSEUM: ACCESS AND COPYRIGHT POLICY
>
> The Mull Museum is, as Frances Caple says, the custodian of the
> records and its records are copyright. It may be that the Museum
> itself holds the copyright or it may be that the Museum has the duty
> of drawing attention to the fact that permission to reproduce needs to
> be sought from the copyright holder. This is why photocopies of our
> documents are routinely stamped "Not to be reproduced without the
> permission of the Mull Museum or copyright holder". In certain cases,
> particularly with photographs, we ask the donor whether they wish to
> hand over copyright to the Museum. This is purely a matter of
> convenience ensuring that should the donor change address/die/assume a
> different name, anyone wishing to reproduce the photograph does not
> have a long search to make. So far as the MUGG documents are
> concerned, the Museum did not raise the question of copyright with the
> donors as the variety of material meant that much is already under
> copyright protection by other bodies and l!
> ibraries from whom it has been copied.
>
>
>
> So far as time is concerned, Frances Caple is correct is saying that
> there is a limit to copyright (now 70 years following the death of the
> author) but this only applies to printed material. The copyright on
> manuscript is governed by different rules
>
>
>
> So far as creation of new copyright is concerned, the mere changing of
> format does not automatically circumvent the copyright laws as Ian
> Phillips suggests. (i.e. you could not publish The Da Vinci Code in
> italics and claim that you were not infringing copyright!).
>
>
> I hope that this makes clear the guidelines under which we operate and
> which are designed to protect depositors as much as the Museum. How
> then does this work in practice? In practice, the Museum, like public
> repositories makes available material to researchers and scholars .
> We are not, incidentally, a public repository (and, yes, Jill Allford
> and Frances Caple, a public record is copyright - usually "Crown
> copyright"). All public repositories that I know of, ask for a signed
> declaration that the copy is intended for private research and not for
> publication. The Mull Museum works on a more informal relationship
> based on trust and common sense. As Frances Caple points out, it is
> quite customary to copy small amounts of material for enquirers and
> researchers based on the trust that this is to be used in the pursuit
> of research and knowledge. To put it on a website however, is to
> publish it and in this sense is no different from publication in a
> book. If Ida King means !
> by "give credit where credit is due", the sharing of information with
> other researchers by letter or e-mail, then indeed, the Museum is
> gratified that our collections are proving helpful to genealogical
> researchers. But when something is published on a website, it is put
> into the public domain in the same way as it is when put into a book
> and there may be loss of control over the material. It is at that
> point that copyright law kicks in. It may, with school records, also
> become an issue of Personal Information. There are some people who do
> not necessarily want it broadcast to the world that their grannie was
> a notorious truant and there is legislation to cover this.
>
>
>
> I hope that the attendees and others who may wish to deposit material
> with the Mull Museum are satisfied (a) that their material will be
> made available to researchers within reason and in accordance with
> their wishes and (b) that a photograph of grandfather Angus (possibly
> from Jan Peasnell's trunkful of photos hidden in someone's laundry) is
> not going to appear as a cover illustration to a best-selling book on
> family history without the Museum pointing out the copyright
> implications. Libby MacMillan can rest assured that the photographs
> that she kindly sent me remain her copyright, and that if application
> were made to reproduce them for publication she would be informed and
> her permission sought.
>
>
>
> Jean Whittaker
>
> Librarian/archivist, Mull Museum
>
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> ==============================
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