An obscure 1911 British law requires a copy of every published book, journal, newspaper, patent, sound recording, magazine etc.. to be permanently archived in at least one of five libraries around the country. The British Library has the most complete collection and is currently adding about 12.5km of new shelf space a year of mostly unheard of and unwanted stuff. A new state-of-the-art warehouse is being constructed with 262 linear kilometers of high-density, fully automated storage in a low-oxygen temperature controlled environment. It is not a library, it is a warehouse for "things that no one wants." BLDG Blog ponders on what it all means.
posted by stbalbach on Dec 4, 2007 - 60 comments

The recent Australia/US free trade deal ,among many other things, extended copyright from fifty years after an authors death to seventy years. As a result stuff like this happening. via Making Light
posted by thatwhichfalls on Aug 5, 2004 - 12 comments

Librarians targeted in latest copyright battles. What, did you think the copyright monopolists were going to forget about librarians defending fair use?
posted by NortonDC on Jul 12, 2001 - 11 comments

Librarians against UCITA. Librarians on the forefront of preserving the public's right to fair use in copyright law. Kiss your local librarian and ALA member today! For more information, see the ALA UCITA Web site. [Courtesy of ALAWON and NINCH].
posted by leo on Feb 7, 2001 - 3 comments