Head of S.F.'s Library Resigns Under Pressure (fwd) - -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

First of all, copyright law is not a matter of "personal ethical
opinion," any more than the decision not to thump people over
the heads with clubs is.  If you think the law needs to be
changed--and most people agree copyright law needs
reevaluation and modification in light of new media--it's up to you
to get involved in the activities directed toward examining and
changing it; that is a very good activity for professionals.  But one
of the concepts that won't disappear, I am hazarding, is that of the
right of authors/producers to exercise some control the destiny of
their products.  If this is "gatekeeping," so be it.  I bet you
"gatekeep" your paycheck at the end of the week--or do you
walk down the street with greenbacks hanging out of your
pockets, caroling "librarianship wants to be free, so help
yourself?"

Second, the provider of the original message made it very clear
to me, when I asked, what his wishes were. It pains me to see
people be so disrespectful of other people's wishes--law or not. 
A copyright notice is a big heads-up that people DON'T want you
copying their material outside of the personal-use guidelines. 
These are things we used to learn in library school. 

Ironically, many folks are generous with sharing information if
you *ask.*  This is what I tell my students--when in doubt, *ask.* 
I have been one of the folks known for "giving things away for
free," to quote a skeptical friend.  But I'd be upset to see
something I produce to *make a living* distributed in a way that
compromised my ability to earn a livelihood from it.  For that
matter, my editor and the publishers are entitled to a living.  They
are not draconian imperialists out to suck dry the coffers of noble
Americans, but nice people who do pretty good work producing
books of value.  Even if we don't make any money off what we're
doing, we have personal rights that aphorism draped in the third
person singular can mask. 

Finally, it's very easy to have a discussion about information
wanting to be free (as if information wanted anything at all) as
long as you don't discuss the individuals involved. One thing
very evident in the early 'net days was that everyone knew
everyone else.  People knew the magic words--"please" and
"thank you"--and didn't begrudge folks like Ed Krol when he
publshed a commercial book on the Internet by an unknown
publisher called O'Reilly, which we all went out and bought. I
remember everyone chatting it up on Panix, a NYC provider.  
Had it been a commercial website and he had asked for payment
(which wasn't practical in those days), I'd like to think that crowd
would have gladly paid Ed for his contribution.  I'd like to think
that crowd would still do that, today.

Karen G. Schneider/schneider.karen at epamail.epa.gov
Contractor, GCI/Director, US EPA Region 2 Library
http://www.epa.gov/Region2/library/