From the Print Media to the Internet Part 11

Over the years, however, despite cooperation efforts, several versions of MARC emerged, e.g. UKMARC, INTERMARC and USMARC, whose paths diverged because of different national cataloguing practices and requirements. Since the early 1970s an extended family of more than 20 MARC formats has evolved. Differences in data content means that editing is required before records can be exchanged.

One solution to the problem of incompatibility was to create an international MARC format (UNIMARC) which would accept records created in any MARC format.

Records in one MARC format could be converted into UNIMARC and then be converted into another MARC format, so that each national agency would need to write only two programs - one to convert into UNIMARC and one to convert from UNIMARC - instead of one program for each other MARC format, (e.g. INTERMARC to UKMARC, USMARC to UKMARC etc.).

In 1977 the International Federation of Library a.s.sociations and Inst.i.tutes (IFLA) published UNIMARC: Universal MARC format, followed by a second edition in 1980 and a UNIMARC Handbook in 1983, all focussed primarily on the cataloguing of monographs and serials, and taking advantage of international progress towards the standardization of bibliographic information reflected in the ISBDs (international standard bibliographic descriptions). In the mid-1980s it was considered necessary to expand UNIMARC to cover doc.u.ments other than monographs and serials, so a new description of the format - the UNIMARC Manual -was produced in 1987. By this time UNIMARC had been adopted by several bibliographic agencies as their in-house format. But developments did not stop there.

Increasingly, a new kind of format - an authorities format - was being used. As described in the website:

"Previously agencies had entered an author's name into the bibliographic format as many times as there were doc.u.ments a.s.sociated with him or her. With the new system they created a single authoritative form of the name (with references) in the authorities file; the record control number for this name was the only item included in the bibliographic file. The user would still see the name in the bibliographic record, however, as the computer could import it from the authorities file at a convenient time. So in 1991 UNIMARC/Authorities was published."

The Permanent UNIMARC Committee, charged with regularly supervising the development of the format, came into being that year, as users realized that continuous maintenance - not just the occasional rewriting of manuals - was needed. In maintaining the format, care is taken to make changes upwardly compatible.

In the context of MARC harmonization, The British Library (using UKMARC), the Library of Congress (using USMARC) and the National Library of Canada (using CAN/MARC) are in the process of harmonizing their national MARC formats. A three-year program to achieve a common MARC format was agreed on by the three libraries in December 1995.

Other organizations recommend the use of SGML (standard generalized markup language) as a common format for the bibliographic records and the corresponding hypertextual and multimedia doc.u.ments.

As most of the publishers use the SGML format to store their doc.u.ments, a convergence between MARC and SGML is expected to occur. The Library of Congress set up the DTD (definition of type of doc.u.ment, which defines its logical structure) for the USMARC format, because it will probably sell more and more data both in SGML and in USMARC. A DTD for the UNIMARC format has also been developed within the European Union. In his study L'acces aux catalogues des bibliotheques par Internet (The Access to Library Catalogs through the Internet), Thierry Samain specifies that some libraries choose the SGML format to encode their bibliographic data. In the Belgian Union Catalog, for example, the use of SGML allows one first to add descriptive elements stemming from the MARC format and other formats, and second to facilitate the production of the annual CD-ROM.

The libraries also have to adapt their thesauri and their key-word lists. In international bibliographic databases like the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the absence of a universal thesaurus is a real problem when you try to find doc.u.ments using the search by subjects. In Europe, each country uses thesauri or key-word lists in its own language, whereas multilingual thesauri would be essential.

Another problem is the harmonization of software. From January to December 1997, ONE (OPAC Network in Europe) was a collaborative project involving 15 organizations in eight European countries. This project provided library users with better ways to access library OPACs (online public access catalogs) and national catalogs, and stimulated and facilitated interworking between libraries in Europe.

Because of international rules, catalog records are often much more difficult to establish today than in the past. That is why nowadays libraries often hire full-time catalogers. Because of the knowledge and the training it requires, cataloging has become a specialty in librarianship.

In a few years, catalogs on the Web will no longer be "only" a collection of records, which is often a prelude to a difficult time finding the doc.u.ment itself - because of the forms to fill out and the difficulties of interlibrary loans. Catalogs on the Web will give instant access to the doc.u.ments on the screen. This is already true in an experimental way for a few thousands doc.u.ments, but has to be progressively widened to all catalogs.

9. PERSPECTIVES

[In this chapter:]

[9.1. Print Media and the Internet / 9.2. Intellectual Property / 9.3.

Multimedia Convergence / 9.4. The Information Society]

9.1. Print Media and the Internet

As shown all throughout this study, the Internet is opening new perspectives in all the sectors of the print media.

In any field (literature, sciences, technology, etc.), authors can create a website to post their works - they no longer need to wait for a publisher to distribute them. And, thanks to e-mail, communication with their readers has become much easier.

On-line booksellers are able not only to sell books published in their own country, but also sell foreign books or sell abroad, or both. The readers can read on their screen excerpts or full texts of books. Many on-line bookstores offer an extensive literary magazine with an editorial content which changes every day.

The dream of catalog managers to be able to give access to a doc.u.ment through its bibliographic record is no longer totally utopian. It is already the case for a few thousand works belonging to public domain. Organizations are also studying the possibility of posting commercial doc.u.ments on the Web, in return for a royalty tax corresponding to the copyright rights, which could be paid by credit card.

Libraries have a new tool for letting the public know their collections better, and for developing projects for real or potential users. The Internet is also a gigantic encyclopedia, easily available for consultation by the libraries' staff and readers.

Many newspapers and magazines' latest issues are available on-line, as well as "dossiers" on current events and archives equipped with a search engine to find information from previous issues. We are also witnessing the first steps of an on-line press which would be different from the paper version and would have its own criteria. Some publishers of specialized periodicals, as well as academic and research works, are thinking about becoming "only" electronic to escape the paper publishing crisis, or making only small print runs when necessary.

Besides this gigantic and lively encyclopedia, the people working in these different fields can increase exchanges thanks to electronic mail and discussion forums. For once, a (relatively) cheap new tool permits people to communicate quickly and worldwide with no concern for time and boundaries.

The disruption of the print media by the Internet has led to new perspectives for intellectual property and regulations about cybers.p.a.ce. The so-called "multimedia convergence" has led to major changes in jobs. We are living the first years of the information society. Will this society provide any changes for the better?

9.2. Intellectual Property

The ma.s.sive arrival of electronic texts on the Web is a real problem for applying the rules relating to intellectual property. Digital libraries, for example, would like to post commercial doc.u.ments but can't do so yet, until there is a system allowing the surfer to pay the equivalent royalties. With a few clicks, any text or article posted on the Internet can be very easily retrieved and copied - much more easily than by photocopying - without its author being paid for the use of his text. And what about all the hyperlinks giving access to all kinds of doc.u.ments from one website?

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an intergovernmental organization which is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations System of Organizations, says on its website:

"As regards the number of literary and artistic works created worldwide, it is difficult to make a precise estimate. However, the information available indicates that at present around 1,000,000 books/t.i.tles are published and some 5,000 feature films are produced in a year, and the number of copies of phonograms sold per year presently is more than 3,000 million."

WIPO is responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property. Intellectual property comprises two main branches: (1) industrial property, chiefly in inventions, trademarks, industrial designs, and appellations of origin; and (2) copyright, chiefly in literary, musical, artistic, photographic and audiovisual works.

Copyright protection generally means that certain uses of the work are lawful only if they are done with the authorization of the owner of the copyright. As explained by WIPO in International Protection of Copyright and Neighboring Rights, the most typical are the following:

"the right to copy or otherwise reproduce any kind of work; the right to distribute copies to the public; the right to rent copies of at least certain categories of works (such as computer programs and audiovisual works); the right to make sound recordings of the performances of literary and musical works; the right to perform in public, particularly musical, dramatic or audiovisual works; the right to communicate to the public by cable or otherwise the performances of such works and, particularly, to broadcast, by radio, television or other wireless means, any kind of work; the right to translate literary works; the right to rent, particularly, audiovisual works, works embodied in phonograms and computer programs; the right to adapt any kind of work and particularly the right to make audiovisual works thereof."

Under some national laws, some of these rights - which together are referred to as 'economic rights' - are not exclusive rights of authorization but, in certain specific cases, merely rights to remuneration. In addition to economic rights, authors (whether or not they own the economic rights) enjoy 'moral rights' on the basis of which authors have the right to claim their authorship and require that their names be indicated on the copies of the work and in connection with other uses thereof, and they have the right to oppose the mutilation or deformation of their works.

Started in July 1993, the International Trade Law (ITL) Monitor was one of the very first law-related WWW sites, and the first dedicated to a particular area of law. The site is run by Ralph Amissah, and hosted by the Law Faculty of the University of Tromso, Norway. The section relating to Protection of Intellectual Property gives access to various doc.u.ments, including the European Commission Legal Advisory Board (LAB): Intellectual Property.

Until the payment of royalties for copyright is possible on the Web, digital libraries focus on 19th-century texts, or older texts, which belong to public domain. In many countries, a text enters the public domain 50 years after his author's death.

In Clearing an Etext for Copyright, Michael Hart gives Project Gutenberg's volunteers some rules of thumb for them to determine when works enter the public domain. For the United States:

a) Works first published before January 1, 1978 usually enter the public domain 75 years from the date copyright was first secured, which is usually 75 years from the date of first publication. (This is the rule Project Gutenberg uses most often).

b) Works first created on or after January 1, 1978 enter the public domain 50 years after the death of the author if the author is a natural person. (Nothing will enter the public domain under this rule until at least January 1, 2023.)

c) Works first created on or after January 1, 1978 which are created by a corporate author enter the public domain 75 years after publication or 100 years after creation whichever occurs first. (Nothing will enter the public domain under this rule until at least January 1, 2053).

d) Works created before January 1, 1978 but not published before that date are copyrighted under rules 2 and 3 above, except that in no case will the copyright on a work not published prior to January 1, 1978 expire before December 31, 2002. (This rule copyrights a lot of ma.n.u.scripts that we would otherwise think of as public domain because of their age.).

e) If a substantial number of copies were printed and distributed in the U.S.

without a copyright notice prior to March 1, 1989, the work is in the public domain in the U.S."

When Project Gutenberg distributes in the United States, U.S. law applies. When it distributes to other countries, local law applies.

Project Gutenberg and The On-Line Books Page, among others, are concerned with the new Copyright Extension. On October 28, 1998, John Mark Ockerbloom wrote in the News of The On-Line Books Page:

"The copyright extension bill mentioned in the October 9 news item is now law, having been signed by President Clinton on October 27. This will prevent books published in 1923 and later that are not already in the public domain from entering the public domain in the United States for at least 20 years.

I have started a page to provide access to copyright renewal records, which eventually should make it easier to find books published after 1922 that have entered the public domain due to nonrenewal. I welcome contributions of additional records, in page image, text, or HTML format.

Although the bill has become law, I would encourage readers to speak loudly in support of the public domain. Congressional testimony indicates that some in the entertainment industry favor even longer copyright periods, effectively preventing anything further from ever entering the public domain. Your voice is needed to help stop this from happening."