Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a type of technological control used by information publishers and vendors to restrict use of electronic information. Librarians should be concerned about DRM because it privileges the rights of information providers to the point of infringing upon users’ fair use and other rights. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 put commercial interests first, casting information users as potential “pirates.” DRM causes difficulties for users of library search tools, audio books, e-books and other electronic media, and for libraries and archives in the area of long-term preservation. Librarians must advocate for users’ rights to freely access and use digital information.
Recommended Citation
Puckett, J. (2010). Digital rights management as information access barrier. Progressive Librarian, 34/35, 11-24. Available at: http://www.progressivelibrariansguild.org/PL_Jnl/pdf/PL34_35_fallwinter2010.pdf
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments
This article was originally published in Progressive Librarian. Copyright © 2010 Progressive Librarian.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial/No Derivatives License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction for non-commercial purposes in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and not not altered, transformed, or built upon.