Legal aspects of visual resources archive management: Effect of the 1976 Copyright Act and U.S. admission to the Berne Convention (1988) on scholastic collections of photographic materials

The effect of copyright on scholastic visual archives was altered by revision of that law in two recent periods of legislative activity. Scholastic visual archivists must consider the effects of copyright on the utility of their collections for patrons and the liability it creates for the archivists themselves. Through surveys of both copyright owners and the archives containing their materials, divergent views on the nature of use and availability of materials are apparent. Owners wish to limit access to their materials; archivists often evade or ignore such restrictions. Furthermore, visual archive records on copyright are woefully inadequate to the needs of patrons. Only through understanding of the law and record-keeping can visual archivists hope to achieve recognition for the copyright needs of their profession.