Reading Time: 4 minutes How could a museum claim copyright over the scan of a tapestry from the 1500s? The question can often encounter a lot of debate, and many museums have added to the confusion by claiming rights when they may not have grounds to do so.
Digital Dialogs
Dion Boucicault: playwright, plagiarist, and pioneer
Reading Time: 3 minutes Boucicault was both a prolific playwright and a flagrant plagiarist. He wrote at a time when appropriating plays and literary works across country borders was almost the norm. However, his activities pirating other author’s works, and also protecting his own, contributed to changes in copyright law that would give greater protection to playwrights after Boucicault. USF Libraries has one of the largest publicly accessible collections of Boucicault’s work, despite Boucicaults attempts to prevent piracy of his works by resisting publication.
Celebrating Women’s History Month with the Burgert Brothers Collection of Tampa Photographs
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Burgert Brothers Collection of Tampa Photographs pictorially captures the history of our city during the first half of the twentieth century. From 1917 until the 1960s, Burgert Brothers was the leading commercial photographic firm in Tampa. The photographs in this collection focus on communities at work and at play. From grocery stores, cigar factories, and cargo ships to citrus fields, universities, and company buildings, this collection provides a look at a changing society. Documenting Tampa in times of war, economic booms, cultural changes, and economic hardships, this collection shows how a marginalized group could enter into new spaces and flourish. With 863 digitized items, Digital Dialogs would like to celebrate Women’s History Month with the Burgert Brothers’ Collection in recognition of its many depictions of women at work and women’s collegiate education… (Continue Reading)
USF Libraries Celebrate Fair Use Week
Reading Time: 2 minutes Every day, students, creators, teachers, and consumers benefit from copyrighted material because of the fair use exception in the United States copyright law. Fair Use Week, February 24 through February 28, celebrates the creative potential and achievements made possible by this powerful exception to copyright law
The Florida Environmental Interface (FEI): Digitizing the History and Future of the USF Libraries Florida Environmental Collections
Reading Time: < 1 minute Guest Post by Matthew Torrence, Research Platform Team Librarian for the Geosciences In order to protect and improve our environmental future, it is important to preserve the past! The new Florida Environmental Interface (FEI) offers an excellent opportunity for researchers to access …Continue Reading
Celebrating Black History Month with the USF Photograph Collection
Reading Time: 5 minutes The USF Photograph Collection pictorially documents the history and legacy of the University of South Florida, including the impact of two pioneering individuals. In celebration of Black History Month, Digital Dialogs would like to recognize Dr. Ernest Boger, II and Dr. Juel Smith for their many accomplishments and contributions to our USF community… (Continue Reading)
Alicia Appleman-Jurman, a Holocaust Survivor
Reading Time: 5 minutes Today marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp. In the weeks before its liberation, the Schutzstaffel (SS) evacuated nearly 60,000 prisoners and forced them to march to Wodzislaw while leaving 7,000 sick and dying prisoners behind in Auschwitz. Suffering from starvation and harsh winter conditions, more than 15,000 people died or were killed during, what is now referred to as, the death march. While an exact number is not known, it is believed that at least 1.3 million people were forced to enter Auschwitz as prisoners. Of these… (Continue Reading)
Celebrating the Public Domain in 2020
Reading Time: 3 minutes Copyright protects works of original authorship from being legally copied, disseminated, and otherwise exploited without the author or rights-holder’s approval. This protection is for a limited time in order to balance the interests of the author with the possibility that a work …Continue Reading
Catesby Collection
Reading Time: 3 minutes Mark Catesby’s two-volume set of The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands was published in 1754. Over 250 years later, this printed edition is housed in just 45 libraries globally. Describing and illustrating North American flora and fauna from an 18th-century naturalist’s perspective, this work has become a rare and important artifact for historians and scientists alike… (Continue Reading)
3D scans and copyright
Reading Time: 2 minutes Copyright law originated with the printed word and many feel that it most easily and accurately applies when dealing with written works. The digital world has opened new avenues to creators, however, and the concept of copying is expanding from just paper …Continue Reading