Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

What is the future of the library? How can we build a better one? These are the two questions on which this paper focuses. The future of the library as an institution is uncertain, largely due to the ascension of digital works as a new medium, and the emergence of the Internet as a mechanism for the distribution of these works. In the course of this discussion, the tension between copyright law and the library is analyzed, as is a scheme, the Public Lending Right, that is in effect in several countries, that has acted as an apparatus to resolve this tension. Inevitably, the questions of who, if anyone, could (or should) regulate copyright in digital media, and how regulation could (or should) be accomplished, on both national and international levels, arises. One contribution that has been made to this discussion is the suggestion that a desirable regulatory scheme provide for a "commons" '-a body of copyrighted works accessible to all.' This paper explores the idea that efficient regulation might be accomplished, and a commons provided for, through an expanded digital library system.

The methodology of this paper works in reverse. Instead of trying to analyze past law in the present with the goal of divining future developments, this paper looks at one aspect of a desirable future, and then searches the past and present for tools that would facilitate such an outcome. It is an attempt to actively construct an improved system of copyright, as well an attempt to avoid settling for a system morphed by reaction alone. At the least, it is an attempt to depolarize the discourse in regard to the future of copyright.

Part I of this paper looks at a typical small-town library-its shortcomings and its potential. As a model for an intellectual commons and as a starting point for this discussion on copyright in a digital environment, the library demonstrates what an egalitarian source of information might look like, and it accentuates several of the larger obstacles that copyright typically encounters. Part II discusses copyright law as it applies to the library, most particularly the doctrines of first sale and fair use. Part III surveys the current state of copyright law and concludes that a crisis is impending that threatens the first sale and fair use doctrines, as well as copyright itself. Part IV examines how several countries, decades ago, created a system to combat a similar crisis to the one faced by copyright today: the Public Lending Right. Part V explores why a Digital Lending Right might be a fitting solution, and how it might be implemented.

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