“I should like you to see them some time”: An empirical study of copyright clearance costs in the digitisation of Edwin Morgan’s scrapbooks
ISSN: 0022-0418
Article publication date: 24 January 2018
Issue publication date: 27 March 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The inability of cultural institutions to make available digital reproductions of collected material highlights a shortcoming with the existing copyright framework in a number of national jurisdictions. Overlapping efforts to remedy the situation were recently undertaken in the form of EU Directive 2012/28/EU, the “Orphan Works” directive, and a new licensing scheme introduced by the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate both the EU and UK policy approaches, drawing on data collected during a live rights clearance simulation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors attempted to clear rights in a sample of 432 items contained in the mixed-media Edwin Morgan Scrapbooks collection held by the University of Glasgow Library. Data were collected on the resource costs incurred at each stage of the rights clearance process, from initial audit of the collection, through to compliance with diligent search requirements under EU Directive 2012/28/EU and the UKIPO licensing procedures.
Findings
Comparing results against the two current policy options for the use of orphan works, the authors find that the UKIPO licensing scheme offers a moderate degree of legal certainty but also the highest cost to institutions (the cost of diligent search in addition to licence fees). The EU exception to copyright provides less legal certainty in the case of rightsholder re-emergence, but also retains high diligent search costs. Both policy options may be suitable for institutions wishing to make use of a small number of high-risk works, but neither approach is currently suitable for mass digitisation.
Research limitations/implications
This rights clearance exercise is focussed on a single case study with unique properties (with a high proportion of partial works embedded in a work of bricolage). Consequently, the results obtained in this study reflect differences from simulation studies on other types of orphan works. However, by adopting similar methodological and reporting standards to previous empirical studies, the authors can compare rights clearance costs between collections of different works.
Originality/value
This study is the first to empirically assess the 2014 UK orphan works licensing scheme from an institutional perspective. The authors hope that it will contribute to an understanding of how policy could more effectively assist libraries and archives in their digitisation efforts.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose suggestions improved this paper, and the numerous MSc Information Management and Preservation students, at the University of Glasgow, whose interactions with the scrapbooks informed the outcomes of this project.
Citation
Stobo, V., Patterson, K., Erickson, K. and Deazley, R. (2018), "“I should like you to see them some time”: An empirical study of copyright clearance costs in the digitisation of Edwin Morgan’s scrapbooks", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 74 No. 3, pp. 641-667. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2017-0061
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited