Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you’re researching materials published and registered between 1931 and 1963, figuring out their copyright status often means checking whether the copyright was renewed after the initial term. Enter the U.S. Copyright Office Virtual Card Catalog (USCO), a fascinating proof-of-concept tool that brings the U.S. Copyright Office’s card catalog online. Spanning records from 1870 to 1977.
Tag: Copyright
Streaming Media and USF Libraries’ Media Collections
Reading Time: 2 minutesDid you know that the USF Libraries has a varied collection of media on VHS and DVD? While available to checkout for home or in class viewing, most homes and classrooms no longer have the equipment to make use of the films, documentaries, and television series stored in these old media formats.
Copyright vs Terms and Conditions: Access and reuse of library collections
Reading Time: 2 minutesCopyright law protects creative expression as soon as it is saved or fixed, but this protection can be transferred and modified by contract law. Contracts can also provide guidance or put restrictions on how copyright protected material can be used. Library database and vendor contracts or license agreements establish rules for how the Libraries and its users may access content held by the vendor in exchange for a subscription fee to that content.
Annual Vote for the Public Domain
Reading Time: < 1 minuteEach year, more material reaches the end of its copyright protection and falls into the public domain. And each year, the USF Libraries invite our community to participate in selecting which public domain works from the Libraries’ collections will be digitized and made freely available online.
AI and Fair Use: Celebrating Fair Use Week 2025
Reading Time: 2 minutesFair Use Week 2025 takes place from February 24-28, 2025. This year, we are continuing to watch several court cases that could decide how generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools function or establish new understanding of how U.S. copyright law enables innovation and creative uses of copyrighted content through an exception known as fair use.
Finding the Public Domain
Reading Time: 3 minutesDigital Dialogs has often featured posts on the public domain and the USF Libraries’ new public domain materials. For our annual digitization the Libraries’ selects material with a publication date that indicates it would fall in to the public domain by its copyright expiration. No matter how straightforward this may seem, determining what is public domain can be quite complicated.