[WEB4LIB] To disclaimer or not to disclaimer?

[Andrew Mutch]

Denise,

I would call this a "legal" response but not legal advice!
:)

Before you start putting anything on the page that sounds like "legalese", I
would contact whoever in the organization is responsible for handling legal
issues at the library.  They can probably advise you whether such a disclaimer
is necessary and if so, what the actual wording should be.  It probably isn't a
good idea to draft your own legal statement because, although it might look
legal, unless the lawyers have had their hands on it, it probably isn't.

[Which might be another arguement why you wouldn't want to do it -- letting
lawyers getting their hands on your web page -- you'll have a page-and-a-half of
disclaimers appear before your patrons see any library info.!]

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI

"Green, Denise" wrote:

> Recently some of my co-workers and I have been debating a "disclaimer" issue
> about our library home page. Should we add some disclaimer about copyright
> to links to other databases?
>
>  The idea is that stating something like  "You are now leaving XYZ Library's
> homepages. The library is not responsible for you observing the copyright
> restriction of Whozit's databases"  will prevent Whozit's from holding the
> library responsible for John or Jane Doe's unethical actions. So if John or
> Jane Doe uses our link to Ovid or FirstSearch to somehow start downloading
> and selling their data, the disclaimer would protect our library from legal
> responsibility.
>
> After some research and discussion, I think this is overkill and not
> required by current copyright law or library ethics. We don't put warnings
> in books or journals stating that the library isn't responsible for how you
> use this info. Our library has the standard signs about copyright and fair
> use beside copiers and public printers. We monitor copyright restrictions on
> electronic reserves, regular reserves, film & video use, ILL,  etc. like
> most academic libraries already. So why bother with such a disclaimer on the
> home page?
>
> So what is your practice or opinion? Is such a disclaimer really needed?
>
> Thanks,
> Denise Green
> Brookens Library
> UIS