As part of my job working on our Facebook page and Twitter account, I try to monitor what people are saying about the Law Library of Congress. Sometimes it’s really interesting to see what pops up.
While searching the words Law Library of Congress on Twitter, I keep seeing links to items like this Switched post, “Library of Congress Says U.S. Copyright Law Threatens Sound Archiving.” The first paragraph of their post grabs the reader:
Copyright law doesn’t just pose a threat to file sharers and pirates. According to the Library of Congress, it may very well kill audio archiving, as well.
It’s easy to see why people are interested in something with the subtitle, A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age. You can read the abstract from the Council on Library and Information Resources, browse the table of contents, or download a PDF of the entire report.
The August 2010 study, The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age, was Commissioned for and sponsored by the National Recording Preservation Board. Among other things, it points out:
Libraries, archives, and other public and privately funded institutions are finding it virtually impossible to reconcile their responsibility for preserving and making accessible culturally important sound recordings with their obligation to adhere to copyright laws.
— Did you know that there is a National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress? It was created by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000.
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