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Digital libraries


The introduction of digital libraries raise difficult and complex copyright issues that do not arise with traditional libraries. If the digital library is connected to the international networks, as soon as the first copy of the work is available free in the library, it is potentially simultaneously accessible to everybody connected to cyberspace. Why would anybody then pay for the information?

On the other hand, there is a fundamental problem with a system that requires, through technology, payment for every access to a particular piece of information. This is against the principles of public library system that are based on free and fair use, as in Finland. It would be difficult to refer to scientific facts, if checking (and possibly also making) the reference costs money. Thus pay-per-use may deter learning and research work. In scientific work is it is very often the interest of the publisher to insist copyrights and payments for all uses of the material.

It is a very demanding task to find a balance between author/publisher interests in receiving compensation and user/library interests in having access to information on fair and reasonable terms. The strict pay-per-use scenario is unlikely to succeed in cyberspace. Consumers will probably fear excessive pricing from pay-per-use schemes [Sam95]. License-based arrangements can solve the problem, at least partly.

The alternative, having totally free services, will most probably lead to overuse, imbalances, and access restrictions based on allocation rules. This will also lead to reduction of quality [Wie95].


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mtu@cs.hut.fi - 04 DEC 95