Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Brindley, Lynne J. --- "Phoenixes in the Internet Era – The Changing Role of Libraries" [2010] ELECD 508; in Bently, Lionel; Suthersanen, Uma; Torremans, Paul (eds), "Global Copyright" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Global Copyright

Editor(s): Bently, Lionel; Suthersanen, Uma; Torremans, Paul

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848447660

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Phoenixes in the Internet Era – The Changing Role of Libraries

Author(s): Brindley, Lynne J.

Number of pages: 11

Extract:

13. Phoenixes in the internet era ­
the changing role of libraries
Dame Lynne J. Brindley*

1 INTRODUCTION

In my contribution entitled phoenixes in the internet era ­ the changing
role of libraries ­ I hope to address some of the key issues for libraries in
the Internet Age, and how our functions are adapting to the demands of
all things digital. I will suggest the need for changes to copyright regimes
to ensure that great libraries can indeed continue their enduring purpose,
revitalised as the digital library rapidly becomes a reality. I am not an
expert in copyright, and I am thus particularly indebted to my expert
colleague Ben White for his input to this contribution.
For those of you not familiar with the British Library let me start by
sharing with you a little about this great institution. As well as being
the UK's national library, the British Library is one of the world's great
research libraries. The Library's physical collection includes some 150
million items, in most known languages. Three million new items are
incorporated every year, and the print collections continue to grow at
around 12.5 linear kilometres or eight miles per annum. Alongside books
and journals, we hold maps, newspapers, magazines, drawings, music
scores, sound recordings and patents. To get some idea of scale, were you
to view five items each day, it would take you 80,000 years to see the whole
collection! In addition we are now ingesting, licensing and digitising many
...