Kenneth D. Crews, Chicago, American Library Association, 2012, , 192 pp, US$57.00 (US$51.30 ALA members) (soft cover), ISBN 978-0-83891-092-4, (available from Inbooks)
Copyright law for librarians and educators focuses on copyright law rather than on licences and is intended to provide its readers with an understanding of the US Copyright Act and the rights of both copyright owners and the users of copyrighted material. The book is organised into five sections: ‘The Reach of Copyright’ (Chapters 1–3), ‘Rights of Ownership’ (Chapters 4–7), ‘Fair Use’ (Chapters 8–11), ‘Focus on Education and Libraries’ (Chapters 12–14), and ‘Special Features’ (Chapters 15–18), supplemented with six appendices.
The book takes a practical approach, using scenarios, exercises and examples to illustrate the application of copyright law to situations that librarians, educators, researchers and authors are likely to encounter. Chapter 2 outlines the scope of US copyright law clearly, showing what characteristics are necessary for a work to be protected by copyright, followed by a chapter explaining what types of work are not protected. The four chapters on the rights of ownership explain the duration of copyright, who owns the copyright, the rights of copyright ownership and the exceptions to the rights of owners. A key point here is that the US Congress has the ability to add new rights (such as in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it illegal to circumvent technological protections measures) or to add exceptions, for example allowing organisations serving the disabled to make specially formatted versions of some types of works.
Fair use is a major topic in the book, with individual chapters that define the meaning of fair use, outline the four factors that are considered in determining what qualifies as fair use, explain how to apply the four factors in a library or educational context, and discuss how to apply published fair-use guidelines.
The final chapters discuss a range of special topics, including distance education, music and unpublished materials. The final chapter covers the process of seeking permission to use copyrighted works from copyright owners, with a model letter for permission requests included as an appendix.
Each chapter begins with bullet points listing the key points covered in the chapter. Crews is well qualified to write about this topic, with over 25 years' experience focusing on copyright issues relating to education, libraries and research. His experience is evident throughout the book, which has clear explanations of complex concepts suitable for people with no previous knowledge of copyright law. There is a short bibliography of additional resources, and a subject index. Overall this book is an ideal introduction to US copyright and will be relevant to anyone who needs to understand it in a library, educational or research context, whether based in the US or elsewhere. It is recommended for all library and information-studies collections.
© 2013, Brenda Chawner