Digital Libraries and Copyright of Intellectual Property

This chapter examines the ethical management of digital collections in a way that enhances compliance to copyright requirements. The chapter clarifies similarities and differences between the terms digital, electronic and virtual. The author emphasises that the digital librarians have a duty to preserve their professional integrity by committing to professional ideals in carrying out various information dissemination activities in a manner that guarantees positive consequences for the users, the library and all other stakeholders such as the owner of the intellectual property, the parent organization, the professional association and the society at large.

Institutional Digital Repository and the Challenges of Global Visibility in Nigeria

This chapter focuses on the issues around building and sustaining an institutional digital repository and its corresponding challenges to global visibility in Nigeria. The chapter argues that building and sustaining an institutional digital repository project requires the state-of-the-art technological infrastructure, skilled manpower, and strong financial backing including ICT skilled user community.

Intellectual Property Challenges in Digital Library Environments

Intellectual property poses a major challenge to digital libraries. This is because access to information in digital libraries is limited by laws, licenses and technology adopted by intellectual property owners. Similarly, intellectual property renders it difficult for digital libraries to make orphan works discoverable and accessible. Furthermore, intellectual property fragments copyright ownership, making it difficult for digital libraries to obtain the right clearance on content. To cope with these challenges, digital libraries have embraced the open access movement which allows reading, copying, downloading and sharing of digital content as long as the creators of the works are cited and acknowledged. Besides, digital libraries offer access to digital works produced under creative commons licenses. These licenses give the copyright owners the liberty to modify the copyright of their works to give room for sharing, use, and building upon the work.

Institutional Repositories as Impetus for Curbing Plagiarism in Nigerian Universities

This chapter is an exposition on the Institutional Repositories as impetus to curbing plagiarism in Nigerian universities. The chapter analyses the nature of academic plagiarism and its prevalence in institutions of higher learning in Nigeria especially among students and faculty members. The chapter also proffers strategies which universities can employ to minimise and or eventually curb plagiarism.

Copyright Issues in a Digital Library Environment

This chapter examines copyright issues in a digital library environment. The author observes that the advent of digital technology has greatly accelerated the dissemination and distribution of information which greatly accelerated the dissemination and distribution of information with great speed and accuracy never seen before. The challenges in creating digital libraries include copyright management, development of appropriate technologies, issues related to storage, architectural and technical challenges, collection development challenges and the challenges of user engagement. The chapter recommends ways of managing orphan works and the roles of digital libraries in open access to knowledge. The author concludes that current developments point to the dominant role of information and communication technology in libraries for improved access to information.

Myths and Challenges of Building an Effective Digital Library in Developing Nations

Building an effective digital library goes beyond just digitizing materials or providing access to electronic resources. There must be a proper understanding of what an effective digital library is. Most developing nations are facing challenges ranging from myths to infrastructural, technical skill and technology dearth, proper planning and implementation; licensing, copyrights and access; interoperability and metadata issues. Recommendations include: political will power, proper planning and management; collaboration and competence skill acquisition with positive attitude from librarians.

Managing Intellectual Property in Digital Libraries

The advent of digital libraries has revolutionized dissemination and utilization of information in this modern age. However, intellectual property constitutes a major barrier to the development of digital libraries. This chapter examines the roles of digital librarians in the management of intellectual property, especially copyright, in digital libraries. Digital librarians are expected to safeguard intellectual property in digital libraries by controlling the utilisation of copyrighted information resources and educating their user communities on the copyright status of information resources. The need for digital librarians to increase their digital collections through digitization and partnership with other digital libraries is also discussed.

A Theoretical Approach to the Adoption of Electronic Resource Management Systems (ERMS) in Nigerian University Libraries

This chapter discusses a theoretical approach to the adoption of electronic resource management systems in Nigeria university libraries. The nature of electronic resources calls for a special way of managing it thereby the invention and adoption of electronic resource management systems (ERMS). However, observation revealed that Nigerian libraries have yet to largely adopt it. It is therefore necessary to theoretically outline the factors promoting adoption of new technologies, in order for Nigerian libraries to take a cue. This chapter proposes a theoretical approach to the adoption of ERMS in Nigerian libraries.

Open Access to Knowledge and Challenges in Digital Libraries

Information access has been a major challenge to researchers, especially in Africa and majorly in Nigeria. The exploitation experienced by researchers who do not have free access to papers but have to pay constitutes a major factor for consideration of Open Access Initiative. An exposition on the oppositions confronted by proponents of open access initiative has been done in this work; the change management process and challenges encountered and how to obliterate the challenges are presented in this chapter. Academics across the globe are coming to terms with open access initiative but the Nigeria environment has not fully integrated into this philosophy. This chapter points out the need to embrace open access initiative. It was concluded that open access signals a new dawn for conducting research by granting free access to the deluge of information available across the globe. The open access initiative challenges publishers who place unnecessary restrictions on access of scholarly publications. This makes research endeavours of scholars around the globe easily accessible, thus enabling researchers to extend the frontiers of existing knowledge.

E-Books in University Libraries in Kenya

The academic world is rapidly embracing the use of technology in most of its activities. Information resources, including books, are increasingly being digitised. Global trends indicate an increased use of the digital format of books and journals in universities. This chapter explores these trends with a special attention to Kenyan universities. It analyses the acquisition models in use; the intellectual property issues surrounding the use of e-books; prospects and challenges encountered by universities in the use of e-books. Finally, the chapter addresses the possible future direction that universities in Kenya are likely to take in relation to the use of e-books while recommending some of the important proactive measures to be taken by stakeholders in the country to ensure ethical use of e-books in the country.