Other Conclusions: Technology and Copyright Clearance

As part of this IMLS-funded project, we hoped to learn more about how technology could be used to allow access to organizations' materials, such as tethering, password protection, protection from unauthorized downloads, and subscription/registration requirements. However, in practice it has become apparent in regard to these issues that the vast majority of the copyright holders we have contacted fall into one of two categories. Either they are too small to be interested in exploring more sophisticated alternatives available for limiting use of their copyrighted material on the Web, or they are large and multileveled bureaucracies whose legal departments do not allow for such individualized solutions to displaying their material at no charge. Although they may license materials to fee-based electronic repositories, larger organizations may find it more efficient to simply deny across the board all other outside use of their organization's materials. However, as demand for online access to copyright-protected documentation continues to grow and as the digital environment matures, it is inevitable that more copyright holders will be amenable to a greater range of such technological solutions.