Strict copyright law hampers digitalisation
Published: Feb 1, 2011 1:08 PM | Updated: Feb 1, 2011 5:06 PM
Stringent laws and regulations in relation to copyright may hamper efforts by many athenaeums and data-based organisations
to undertake full digitalisation of information.
Many organisations started information digitalisation years ago in the effort to make documents of yesteryears - which are traditionally kept in the form of microfilms, books, journals, photos and video or audio clips - long lasting and easily accessible to the public.
Stringent regulations in relation to copyright may hamper efforts to full digitalisation of information.
Stringent laws and regulations in relation to copyright may hamper efforts by many athenaeums and data-based organisations
to undertake full digitalisation of information.
Many organisations started information digitalisation years ago in the effort to make documents of yesteryears - which are traditionally kept in the form of microfilms, books, journals, photos and video or audio clips - long lasting and easily accessible to the public.
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) librarian Kamariah Abu Samah said while the institute's ultimate objective was to digitalise all their book collections, copyright issues proved to be a drawback to the effort.
She said DBP had an extensive publication since 1956 but copyright issues hamper the digitalisation process.
"At DBP, the copyright only belongs to us for three months; it goes back to the author after that.
"Problems arise when we want to digitalise the books and we no longer have the rights to it. This is a major problem for us to digitalise our collections," she told Bernama.
She said although DBP had started the digitalisation process since 1993, the completion rate was only at 70 per cent.
"We have a lot of collections since 1956, among them are pictures which have been used in published journals, magazines and in our 10,000 collections of books," she said.
A tedious process
Apart from copyright issue, digitalisation was also a tedious process, she said.
"For instance, if a person were to scan all the 10,000 collections 24 hours everyday, it will take him 24 years to complete," she said.
Concurring with Kamariah's views, Malaysian Rubber Board librarian Mohd Norafendy Mohd said his task in getting permission from researchers to publish their papers online was equally daunting.
"Our collections dated back since 1960. Gathering all the information available since then is a difficult process because no one really paid attention to it before.
"To be able to utilise these research papers, we will have to contact the researchers, which my team and I do not really know who they are or their whereabouts," he said.
Despite the problem, his team managed to complete about 60 per cent of the digitalisation process of documents in the board's safekeeping.
Malaysian Cocoa Board librarian Hasnita Jaafar, who shared their views, said that apart from seeking permission from the authors, there was also a need to buy several copies of the research papers written jointly by several authors.
"It requires a lot of time and money. It also constitutes a waste to buy two or three of the same copies just to digitalise it," she said.
Needs a whole lot of budget
Despite the difficulties, she insisted that the digitalisation process should be pushed forward for the sake of education.
"Through our effort, we now have plenty of information about cocoa to educate the youngsters," she added.
Bernama InfoLib manager Hasnita Ibrahim said the news agency faced little problem pertaining to copyright because most of the data and information at the library came from Bernama's own collection.
"However, for other documents, we need to deal with publishing companies by signing memorandums of understanding with them," she said.
Bernama had so far digitalised about four million articles in its database, she said.
Utusan Information Centre's digitalisation program manager Ishak Mat Piah said that the digitalisation process required strong support from the management of an organisation.
"Strong management support especially in terms of financial is important as the process needs a whole lot of budget.
"The technology for the process, for example the scanner, could cost up to RM300,000. Once the machine is obtained, the flow of the work will then run smooth," he said.
Utusan has so far completed about 10 per cent of their digitalisation process.
- Bernama
to undertake full digitalisation of information.
Many organisations started information digitalisation years ago in the effort to make documents of yesteryears - which are traditionally kept in the form of microfilms, books, journals, photos and video or audio clips - long lasting and easily accessible to the public.
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) librarian Kamariah Abu Samah said while the institute's ultimate objective was to digitalise all their book collections, copyright issues proved to be a drawback to the effort.
She said DBP had an extensive publication since 1956 but copyright issues hamper the digitalisation process.
"At DBP, the copyright only belongs to us for three months; it goes back to the author after that."Problems arise when we want to digitalise the books and we no longer have the rights to it. This is a major problem for us to digitalise our collections," she told Bernama.
She said although DBP had started the digitalisation process since 1993, the completion rate was only at 70 per cent.
"We have a lot of collections since 1956, among them are pictures which have been used in published journals, magazines and in our 10,000 collections of books," she said.
A tedious process
Apart from copyright issue, digitalisation was also a tedious process, she said.
"For instance, if a person were to scan all the 10,000 collections 24 hours everyday, it will take him 24 years to complete," she said.
Concurring with Kamariah's views, Malaysian Rubber Board librarian Mohd Norafendy Mohd said his task in getting permission from researchers to publish their papers online was equally daunting.
"Our collections dated back since 1960. Gathering all the information available since then is a difficult process because no one really paid attention to it before.
"To be able to utilise these research papers, we will have to contact the researchers, which my team and I do not really know who they are or their whereabouts," he said.
Despite the problem, his team managed to complete about 60 per cent of the digitalisation process of documents in the board's safekeeping.
Malaysian Cocoa Board librarian Hasnita Jaafar, who shared their views, said that apart from seeking permission from the authors, there was also a need to buy several copies of the research papers written jointly by several authors.
"It requires a lot of time and money. It also constitutes a waste to buy two or three of the same copies just to digitalise it," she said.
Needs a whole lot of budget
Despite the difficulties, she insisted that the digitalisation process should be pushed forward for the sake of education.
"Through our effort, we now have plenty of information about cocoa to educate the youngsters," she added.
Bernama InfoLib manager Hasnita Ibrahim said the news agency faced little problem pertaining to copyright because most of the data and information at the library came from Bernama's own collection.
"However, for other documents, we need to deal with publishing companies by signing memorandums of understanding with them," she said.
Bernama had so far digitalised about four million articles in its database, she said.
Utusan Information Centre's digitalisation program manager Ishak Mat Piah said that the digitalisation process required strong support from the management of an organisation.
"Strong management support especially in terms of financial is important as the process needs a whole lot of budget.
"The technology for the process, for example the scanner, could cost up to RM300,000. Once the machine is obtained, the flow of the work will then run smooth," he said.
Utusan has so far completed about 10 per cent of their digitalisation process.
- Bernama
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