In late February, the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress published a new rule that expands the requirement for the mandatory deposit to include items published in only in digital format. The interim regulation, Mandatory Deposit of Published Electronic Works Available Only Online (37 CFR Part 202 [Docket No. RM 2009–3]) was released in the Federal Register. The Library of Congress will focus its first attention on e-only deposit of journals, since this is the area where electronic-only publishing is most advanced. Very likely, this will move into the space of digital books as well, but it will likely take sometime to coalesce.
I wrote a column about this in Against the Grain last September outlining some of these issues that this change will require. A free copy of that article is available here. The Library of Congress is aware, and will become painfully more so when this stream of online content begins to flow their way. To support an understanding about these new regulations, LC hosting a forum in Washington in May to discuss publisher’s technology for providing these data on a regular basis. Below is the description about the meeting that LC provided.
Electronic Deposit Publishers Forum
May 10-11, 2010
Library of Congress — Washington, DC
The Mandatory deposit provision of the US Copyright Law requires that published works be deposited with the US Copyright Office for use by the Library of Congress in its collection. Previously, copyright deposits were required only for works published in a physical form, but recently revised regulations now include the deposit of electronic works published only online. The purpose of this workshop is to establish a submission process for these works and to explore technical and procedural options that will work for the publishing community and the Library of Congress.
Discussion topics will include:
- Revised mandatory deposit regulations
- Metadata elements and file formats to be submitted
Space for this meeting is very limited, but if you’re interested in participating in the meeting, you should contact the Copyright Office.
Proposed transfer mechanisms
