Abstract:
In this paper we discuss the various steps followed while
creating an open access repository of historical material available at the
Indian Institute of Astrophysics using DSpace. While uploading these
materials we have come across various copyright issues, which are not
clearly addressed by the Indian copyright act of 1957. Moreover the
Indian copyright act pertaining to digital contents is still not complete to
include the historical contents. Some of these issues are understood in
the context of copyright laws prevalent in other countries. Archival
collections of IIA Open Access Repository are classified under the
communities; (1) Archival collections, (2) Research papers in journals
where IIA is the publisher (3) News paper clippings, (4) Photographs.
This paper mainly elaborates on the procedure followed according to
the ownership of the materials available with us and also those, which
are transferred to us by the relatives of the original authors. The
procedures also include the efforts made to trace the possible owners of
the contents for copyright clearance. This paper also focuses on the
basic principle, that holding an archival material does not automatically
give the library copyright ownership. It creates an awareness among
library personnel regarding the legal aspects of archiving historical
contents like old newspaper cuttings, photographs, letters and handwritten
manuscripts.
