acquisition use of book cover images
- August 17, 2004 @ 7:30amkittyw says:Many online catalogs now feature book covers. I assume that libraries must locate a source to purchase these in order to assure copyright compliance. Or, is this true? Or, is this not an issue? Or are there free, legal sources?
- August 18, 2004 @ 9:02amBethCoogan says:
Many online catalogs now feature book covers. I assume that libraries must locate a source to purchase these in order to assure copyright compliance. Or, is this true? Or, is this not an issue? Or are there free, legal sources?
It is my understanding from some of my author friends that covers and titles cannot be copyrighted. I've seen titles and cover images used more than once. - August 18, 2004 @ 10:19amrhousewright says:Well, there's a couple different things going on here. Titles, typically, cannot be copyrighted. Book *covers*, however, can absolutely be (think especially of the covers of fiction books which may have original artwork, etc). I've asked a couple of publisher types about this, and the consensus I found seemed to be that if you were using a book cover in connection with the book (promoting it, etc), then they're fine with it - although they would like to know that you're doing it.
Of course, the real problem is where do you get these images? I know some library catalogs (iPAC is the one I've seen) will pretty much do it for you, but does anyone know a good way to get these en masse (i.e. not from Amazon?)? - August 25, 2004 @ 9:15amdan says:There are companies (okay, I know of one) that license book cover images to library ILS vendors for use in catalogs.
Dan - September 1, 2004 @ 1:50pmCarrie says:[quote]There are companies (okay, I know of one) that license book cover images to library ILS vendors for use in catalogs.
Dan[/quote]
Do you know what the company charges or what terms are included in the license agreement?
I think that, for the most part, the use of book covers as described is a fair use. For convenience, it may be easy to sign up with the license book cover company because they have these images ready to go (at least this is my assumption). But I wonder if the fee charged is a permission fee. I would hate for libraries to start paying permission for uses that are fair. Just wondering. - September 2, 2004 @ 12:34pmTrishaDavis says:As mentioned earlier in this discussion, many libraries pay for Table-of-Contents and review type services with either link a bibliographic record to an external source, or to data mounted by the library. In either case, the service provider has negotiated the rights to distribute copies of the covers, table of contents, and many time some sample pages. To use the covers for any other purpose would be unlawful.
- September 3, 2004 @ 12:00pmCarrie says:But how about this?
Let's say a library posts covers of books on its library web page to promote "new books" purchased by the library. Perhaps the librarian writes a little review for each book. Wouldn't the use of these covers be fair?
I am not familiar with online catalogs where every book cover is included with the bibiliograpic record purchased from a vendor. In this situation, the library is signing a license with the vendor for the use of this service, right?
Now let's say that the same library (with all of the licensed online records and accompanying book cover images) decides to make a special web site of "new arrivals." They grab the books that they have lawfully acquired from the shelves, and scan the covers, and include the covers on this special web site to promote the books.
I'm suggesting that the license one signs with the online catalog vendor for the online records and accompanying book cover images does not apply to the actual books that the library purchased.
What do you think?
Posting to the forum is only available to users who are logged in.