Providing Quality Access Regardless of Restrictions: Serving Researchers While Protecting Commercial Materials

Drexel University is home to a commercially created collection of audio materials. These materials, having been the studio creations of Sigma Sound Studios, present myriad copyright concerns. Each sound recording in the collection comes with an inherent set of copyrights: the ownership of the recording and the ownership of each song. This situation makes determining ownership rights very complex and time consuming. The Sigma Collection also spans a timeframe from 1967 to 1996. Due to current United States copyright codes, materials created after 1972 fall under federal copyright while materials created prior to 1972 fall under state copyright law. This added complexity in maintaining legal compliance serves as a barrier to providing consistent access to all materials.

This paper will explore the complexity of copyright restrictions on the materials within the Drexel Audio Archives and ways to provide the most access possible while protecting intellectual property interests. In doing so, the author will look at the various forms of access and the appropriateness of each while identifying procedures and techniques that maximize the quality of access when opportunities for access is limited.

Date: 
10 OCTOBER WEDNESDAY
Start time: 
16:30
Venue: 
Auditorium
Title (author 1): 
Mr
First names (author 1): 
Toby
Surname (author 1): 
Seay
Institution: 
Drexel University
Country: 
UNITED STATES
presentation type: 
spoken