Bits & Bytes

I have had a request for information about copyright. The following sites will help answer most questions that librarians and library users might have about the issue:

Copyright Crash Course is an online tutorial from the lawyers at the University of Texas. It even offers an ask a lawyer section that is restricted to UT System employees, but perhaps if you were very nice to Janine or our other UT members, they'd ask for you.

The Cyber Space Law Center offers good information on copyright and other issues facing Internet users. Covered are freedom of expression, commerce, privacy (including workplace privacy) and more. In addition to the cases that set legal precedent in the copyright area, the actual statute, recent Congressional testimony, and various Digital Millennium Copyright Acts (H.R. 2281, 106th Congress, 105th Congress) are just a click away.

The Copyright Website is a site that offers information regarding specific contested copyright cases. Under the Visual Arts Link, look for Robert Rauschenberg's run-in with Time Magazine. The contents of the site break into the following categories: Visual Arts, Audio Arts, Digital Arts, Basic (which is then broken into Registration, Forms, Notice, Protection, Fair Use, and Public Domain), and News.

Hope these help you with your copyright headaches and free up some time for everyone to have a great summer! On that note, let me direct your attention to The Greentree Travel Network. Whether you are actually planning to go to Alaska to kayak with killer whales this summer or just need a few minutes "away from your desk," this is a fun site to visit. Be sure to sign up for Your Daily Escape. Every day I get a picture postcard in my e-mail (the whole postcard, I don't have to click on a link and visit a website) from some exotic locale. This week I've been to Wyoming, Nepal, Utah, the Virgin Islands, and cycling in West Virginia.