Copyright, release forms and Data Protection

Advice on copyright, data protection and other Intellectual Property Rights

Getting involved with Community Archives often means having to deal with Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), which include copyright, and this can be complicated, especially if digitisation is involved. The Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) website has a section on IPR and digitisation.

For more general advice one of the best publications is Copyright for Archivists and Users of Archives by Timothy Padfield (Facet Publishing, 2007). Mr Padfield has also provided notes for the Society of Archivists website. Other titles on copyright and data protection are also available from Facet. Many of these will be held by libraries and record offices/archives.

Collections Link

The Collections Link website have a number of downloadable factsheets on copyright issues.

Data protection

Data Protection may also have to be considered. Advice on this issue can be found on the Information Commissioner's website.