Association of Research Libraries (ARL®)

Intellectual property policies have been and will continue to be central to the library community.  Historically, the library community has relied on copyright law as the policy framework for balancing the competing interests of creators, publishers, and users of copyrighted works.  Copyright law balances the rights of authors, publishers and copyright owners with society's need for the free exchange of ideas.  Provisions in the Copyright Act including fair use and related exemptions for libraries and educational institutions allow libraries to achieve our mission of providing effective public access to and the preservation of information in all formats.