Needed: Accurate information on British Library policy on copyright and use of Interlibrary Loans

Typed and pasted to Arcturus

[As I said the election was a holiday from the daily basis of trying to create a fair society at grass roots. We are now back to the process of trying to pull our institutions into the 21^st century by using web democracy.]

I have discovered a new policy at the British Library which is so bizarre that it comes straight out of Alice Through The Looking Glass. Before I address it in detail I repost quotes made by Dame Lynne Brindley of the BL about a year ago (see this blog).

British Library document on copyright

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

British Library urges new approaches to copyright

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

I’ll quote from Dame Lynne:

Dame Lynne added: “There is a supreme irony that just as technology is allowing greater access to books and other creative works than ever before for education and research, new restrictions threaten to lock away digital content in a way we would never countenance for printed material. Let’s not wake up in five years” time and realise we have unwittingly lost a fundamental building block for innovation, education and research in the UK.” …

My current example will show that the BL is actively moving in precisely the opposite direction by investing in the most bizarre Digital Rights Management (DRM) I have ever seen.

It concerns the copyright and usage constraints on Interlibrary loans (many out of copyright). Before trying to bring the full power of Looking Glass satire on it I’d like to get my facts straight (the example I have got comes through a university library and I believe it has simply transmitted the BL’s conditions. I intend to transmit an FOI to the BL but currently whatdotheyknow.com is having a rest. So please could librarians or research scientists use the comment box to answer:

• When the BL provides an interlibrary loan in electronic form what constraints on use are imposed.
• Has this policy changed in the last year (i.e. since Dame Lynne’s ironic speech)

Please copy precisely the BL’s constraints (unless you are forbidden by the BL to do so).

I really need good information on this. The BL’s responses are often masterly Sir Humphreydoms that say nothing, so I need to have very carefully numbered questions and perhaps several FOI requests. If anyone has information on the motivation for the policy I’d be grateful.

And I’d be DELIGHTED to get a reply from the British Library (or humans in it) itself.