Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T01:54:50.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A licence to scan: the visual resource professional in UK higher education and the digital image copyright dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Matt Davies*
Affiliation:
Digital Humanities Centre, Humanities Building, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Get access

Abstract

Visual resource professionals (VRPs) for years provided high-quality, subject specific, copyright cleared images for teaching and research in higher education in the UK by maintaining slide collections. As the rapid march of technology left the 35mm slide in its wake, VRPs found themselves unable to provide the digital alternative because their hands were bound by outdated copyright law. They began sounding the alarm over ten years ago and have been calling for a resolution ever since, but to no avail. Why have their calls not been heeded? How have VRPs responded to the resulting dilemma, and where does it leave the copyright status of the images used in everyday teaching in the UK?

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Here represented by ACADI, the Association of Curators of Art and Design Images, and ARLIS/UK and Ireland, the Art Libraries Society.Google Scholar
2. Godfrey, Jenny, ‘The DACS Slide Collection Licensing Scheme,’ Art libraries journal 26, no.4 (2001): 1017.Google Scholar
3. Email from Christine Backler, ‘Letter to DACS,’ 15 July 2001.Google Scholar
4. Email from Stephanie Silvester, ‘DACS Steering Group Meeting, May ’02,’ 29 May 2002.Google Scholar
5. Notes from VRC/DACS meeting, 10 September 2002.Google Scholar
6. ACADI, Association of Curators of Art and Design Images, The “new” wishlist, http://acadi.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/the-new-wishlist-aka-proposal-for-a-digital-image-database-licence/.Google Scholar
7. Godfrey, Jenny, ‘A digital future for slide libraries?Art libraries journal 29, no.l (2004): 1022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Ibid: 14.Google Scholar
9. Drummond, Isabel, ‘Setting the scene: towards a digital future,’ excerpt from report on the Visual Resources Committee’s study day, Slide libraries and the digital future, 23 November 2004, ARLIS news-sheet no.174 (March/April 2005): 1112.Google Scholar
10. Email from Bonnick, Nicola, ‘DACS’, 5 July 2006.Google Scholar
11. Email from Salliss, Nicola J., ‘DACS – Digital Image Licence Consultation’, 25 May 2007.Google Scholar
12. Gilane Tawadros, Chief Executive, Design and Artists Copyright Society, 11 March, 2009.Google Scholar
13. Now known as JISC Digital Media.Google Scholar
14. Email from John Robinson, Director of Legal & International, Design and Artists Copyright Society, ‘HE Licence,’ 15 November 2010.Google Scholar
15. Email from Katie Hambrook, ‘CLA Image Developments,’ 6 December 2011.Google Scholar
16. Intellectual Property Office, Independent Review of IP and Growth, http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview/ipreview-c4e.htm.Google Scholar
17. Digital Opportunity, a Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf.Google Scholar
18. HM Government, Consultation on Copyright, http://www.ipo.gov.uk/consult-2011-copyright.pdf.Google Scholar
19. Ibid: 56.Google Scholar
20. Ibid: 58.Google Scholar
21. Ibid: 59.Google Scholar
22. Ibid: 91.Google Scholar
23. There will be a repeat of this event in late May/early June 2012.Google Scholar