Oakton College Library Archives

Oakton Library Archives understands that privacy is a fundamental right that is protected by law. The archive strives to protect the privacy of donors, as well as people, organizations, and groups who are represented within the archival materials in our catalogs. The archive is interested particularly in protecting the privacy rights of individuals who had no role in the collection's creation, maintenance and its use. Where necessary and appropriate, restrictions are placed on records that would reveal sensitive information. The archive encourages researchers to reach out to those documented within the records. The archive also respects the researcher's right to privacy. Your research is confidential and any personal information collected by Oakton Library Archive in the process of your access will be protected under Oakton's privacy policy, located here: https://www.oakton.edu/about/policies-and-legal-notices/privacy-policy.php.

The Archives works to balance the needs of researchers with the protection of copyright owners. The Archive may hold materials in the collection that we do not hold the copyright for. a copyright exists for any original work solidified in tangible form whether published or unpublished for at least 70 years after the life of its creator, after which it falls into public domain. For a work to be considered original, it must not be a copy of previous material and it must demonstrate some level of creativity.

Copyright is actually a group of rights that exist for original works. These are as follows:

• The reproduction right (right to make copies).
• The right to create adaptations or derivative works.
• The right to distribute copies of work to the public.
• The right to display the work publicly.

There are exceptions to these rights.

• Section 108 of the Copyright Act allows libraries and archives to make up to three copies of an unpublished original work “solely for purposes of preservation and security or for deposit for research use in another library or archives.” The work must be currently owned andd in the collection of the archive. 
• The Fair Use exception is one that many may be familiar with. Fair Use requires certain conditions to be in place:
  • Purpose or character of use-this includes parody and nonprofit educational use.
  • Nature of the copyrighted works. Fair Use is broader for nonfiction than fiction works, and broader for published works than unpublished works.
  • The amount and substantiality of the work used. Generally speaking, the more of a given work that is used, the less likely it is to be considered Fair Use. 
  • Lastly, the effect of the use on the market for the work in question. If the use of a work supplants the market for the original work, it won't be considered Fair Use. 
• First sale doctrine allows for things like library lending or library marketing with promotional materials for a work owned inside the collection.

The use of original works held in the Archive must comply to copyright law and its exceptions.