Category Archives: open access

Coming soon to the public domain in 2022

Posted on December 1, 2021 by John Mark Ockerbloom

One of the blessings of what’s been a rough couple of years is that Public Domain Day is now a routine cause for celebration in the United States. For 20 years up to 2019, very little entered the public domain … Continue reading →

Posted in adventcalendar, copyright, open access, publicdomain | 1 Comment

Public Domain Day 2021: Honoring a lost generation

Posted on January 1, 2021 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s Public Domain Day again. In much of Europe, and other countries with “life+70 years” copyright terms, works by authors who died in 1950, such as George Orwell, Karin Michaelis, George Bernard Shaw, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, have joined … Continue reading →

Posted in online books, open access, publicdomain | 3 Comments

Build a better registry: My intended comments to the Library of Congress on the next Register of Copyrights

Posted on March 19, 2020 by John Mark Ockerbloom

The Library of Congress is seeking public input on abilities and priorities desired for the next Register of Copyrights, who heads the Copyright Office, a department within the Library of Congress.  The deadline for comments as I write this is … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, data, metadata, open access, serials | Comments Off on Build a better registry: My intended comments to the Library of Congress on the next Register of Copyrights

Welcome to everybody’s online libraries

Posted on March 16, 2020 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As coronavirus infections spread throughout the world, lots of people are staying home to slow down the spread and save lives.  In the US, many universities, schools, and libraries have closed their doors.  (Here’s what happening at the library where … Continue reading →

Posted in libraries, online books, open access | 4 Comments

Wikipedia and the deep backfile

Posted on November 8, 2019 by John Mark Ockerbloom

We’re continuing to add serial information to the Deep Backfile project that I announced here last month.  I’m adding some of the existing information in The Online Books Page serials listings and our first serial renewals listings that hadn’t initially … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, libraries, open access, serials, wikipedia | Comments Off on Wikipedia and the deep backfile

Invitation to participate in a new project: Help open journals’ deep backfiles

Posted on October 10, 2019 by John Mark Ockerbloom

As I’ve noted here previously, there’s a wealth of serial content published in the 20th century that’s in the public domain, but not yet freely available online, often due to uncertainty about its copyright (and the resulting hesitation to digitize … Continue reading →

Posted in citizen librarians, copyright, open access, serials | Comments Off on Invitation to participate in a new project: Help open journals’ deep backfiles

More and better copyright data online for serials and books

Posted on June 28, 2019 by John Mark Ockerbloom

It’s getting easier over time to find and use data on copyrights, and thereby to find and make use of materials in the public domain.  Here’s a quick update on what’s new and what’s coming, in my projects and elsewhere. … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, online books, open access, serials | Comments Off on More and better copyright data online for serials and books

Public Domain Day 2019: Welcome to 1923!

Posted on January 1, 2019 by John Mark Ockerbloom

Early this morning, a full year’s worth of published works were welcomed into the public domain in the United States for the first time since 1998. Hundreds of thousands of works from 1923 either joined the public domain here, or … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, open access, sharing | 2 Comments

Why pay for what’s free? Finding open access and public domain articles

Posted on October 23, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

[Another version of this post appears on PennLibNews, as part of the Penn Libraries’ celebration of Open Access Week.] It happens to most researchers all too often.  You see a reference or a link to an article that you’d love … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, libraries, open access, serials, sharing | 9 Comments

Public domain serials: Renewal inventory complete!

Posted on June 15, 2018 by John Mark Ockerbloom

I’m pleased to announce an important milestone in the IMLS-funded project I’m leading to help open access to 20th century public domain serials.  We now have a complete, openly published inventory of all serials with active issue or contribution renewals … Continue reading →

Posted in copyright, metadata, open access, serials, sharing | 3 Comments