Bibliotecas universitarias y derecho de autor: un par dialéctico en tiempos de pandemia

Ana María Pereda Mirabal; María Esperanza Mirabal Mirabal

University libraries and copyright: a dialectical pair in times of pandemic

EDUMECENTRO 2022;14:e1741

RESEARCH PAPER

University libraries and copyright: a dialectical pair in times of pandemic

Bibliotecas universitarias y derecho de autor: un par dialéctico en tiempos de pandemia

Ana María Pereda Mirabal^1*https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8106-6607
María Esperanza Mirabal Mirabal² https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7578-0334

¹ "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca" University. Pinar del Río. Cuba.
² Pinar del Río University of Medical Sciences. "Abel Santamaría Cuadrado". Provincial University Hospital. Pinar del Río. Cuba.

^* Author for correspondence. Email: anamariapereda5@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

University libraries play a fundamental role in the teaching-learning process. Under the influence of digitization processes, these institutions diversify their actions to become a resource center for learning and research, and promote the creation of institutional open access repositories. The library activity in digital environments demands an adaptation of the authorial norms that allows them to develop their functions without harming the faculties of the authors and copyright holders. The authors present some critical notes on the library-copyright relationship in pandemic times.

MeSH: libraries; copyright; digital inclusion; medical education.

RESUMEN

Las bibliotecas universitarias juegan un rol fundamental en el proceso enseñanza aprendizaje. Bajo el influjo de los procesos de digitalización estas instituciones diversifican su actuar para convertirse en centro de recursos para el aprendizaje y la investigación, y fomentan la creación de repositorios institucionales de acceso abierto. La actividad bibliotecaria en entornos digitales demanda una adecuación de las normas autorales que les permita desarrollar sus funciones sin lesionar las facultades de los autores y titulares del derecho de autor. Las autoras exponen algunos apuntes críticos sobre la relación biblioteca-derechos de autor en tiempos pandémicos.

DeSC: bibliotecas; derechos de autor, inclusión digital; educación médica.

Submitted: 22/10/2020
Accepted: 04/11/2021

Libraries guarantee the right of access to culture and knowledge, for this reason they are beneficiaries of the system of limits to copyright. The emergence of technologies and the internet has broadened and diversified the ways to access the works found in libraries and the means used by them to allow access. The use of websites, the appearance of electronic books and the digitization of information are instruments incorporated when acting as libraries in the process of access to knowledge and culture with total normality.⁽¹⁾

Digitization has facilitated user access to works. This process has made it possible to make texts accessible to the public to be consulted from any place, time and simultaneously, even if it is the same copy. Likewise, it has offered the possibility of preserving and preserving unique, rare, deteriorated or deteriorating documents.

In the university environment, the transformation factor is the progressive virtualization of the contents that are generated in the university itself.⁽²⁾ The creation of institutional repositories promoted under open access projects ⁽³⁾ and the operation of the library as a center of resources for learning and research, ⁽⁴⁾ constitute the most significant changes experienced in university libraries. However, it is noted that the library activity in this digital environment must be carried out respecting the copyright of the works in custody.

In this relationship, university libraries VS intellectual property, the core points are related to the exploitation of scientific production that is created in universities. The doctrinal consensus recognizes the authorship of the creators of articles, monographs and theses in the university environment, making the deposit of these works in libraries coincide with the act of disclosure, and carrying out their exploitation in open access, where the authors obtain moral recognition for its creation, not a patrimonial retribution as such.

Given the epidemiological situation generated by COVID-19, the university union demands the provision of online services to develop the teaching-learning process. The desired remote access by teachers and students to the contents of the library would be possible under the protection of an exception to copyright that allows online consultations.⁽⁵⁾

The authorial faculty that would be affected is that of public communication. This patrimonial power is what allows the work to be made available to the public by means other than the distribution of copies. Communication can be direct or indirect, depending on the mediate or immediate relationship between the public and the work.⁽⁶⁾

The current configuration of the limit to the patrimonial faculty of public communication is only configured for on-site consultations in the international regulations that regulate it as it´s the case of the Copyright Law of Colombia, the Code of Ingenios in Ecuador and the text consolidated of the Spanish Intellectual Property Law. In Cuba, Law 14/77, Copyright Law, is insufficient, in the opinion of the authors. The minimalist regulation or the non-regulation of this exception make it impossible for professors and students to access the funds that are digitized in the library, even when they are in university establishments connected in a network.⁽⁷⁾

In the context of social isolation imposed by COVID-19, the increase in teleworking and the intensification of the distance learning model, the limit to the faculty of public communication of authors and copyright holders in the modality of making available. It is essential. Up to now its normative conception is inadequate to the digital environment and causes tensions between the library activity and the authors of works of the spirit.

To be effective, the limitation urgently needs to adapt to the access demands in the network. It is essential that you cover online or offline consultations, as long as it is done for research, teaching, personal study or access to people with disabilities.

In a general sense, harmonization of this limit is imposed in the digital environment, especially to cover online consultations, text and data mining, among others. In the field of humanistic sciences, it highlights the possibility of this activity being carried out outside libraries through remote, controlled and secure access.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

1. Torres Ripa J, Gómez Hernández JA. Introducción: diálogos sobre propiedad intelectual. Bilbao: Editorial Universidad de Deusto-Servicio de Publicaciones; 2011. p. 11-15.

2. López Medina A, Zorita Vicente L. Las bibliotecas universitarias y la gestión de la información en el entorno digital: unas consideraciones para repositorios digitales. BiD: textos universitaris de biblioteconomía i documentació [Internet]. 2008 [citado 01/04/2018];20:[aprox. 7 p.]. Disponible en: https://bid.ub.edu/20lopez2.htm

3. García Pérez JF. Derechos de autor en internet. [Internet]. México: Editorial UNAM: Coordinación General de Estudios de Posgrado; 2019 Disponible en: https://www.posgrado.unam.mx/publicaciones/ant_col-posg/45_Internet.pdf

4. Villaseñor Palma K Úcar Martínez X. El capital social en la biblioteca universitaria. [Internet]. España: Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios; 2011. Disponible en: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi1kffj28f0AhWpTTABHYx -A1AQFnoECAUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aab.es%2Fapp%2Fdownload%2F5339654%2FEL%2BCAPITAL.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2Tq6qx9La7QnUl1-BBf9H4

5. Serrano Fernández M. El límite al derecho de comunicación pública en favor de las bibliotecas, museos, archivos y demás instituciones culturales. En: Serrano Fernández M. Propiedad intelectual y bibliotecas: una revisión crítica. Madrid: Editorial Reus; 2018. p. 55-78.

6. Valdés Díaz CC. Contenido del derecho de autor. La Habana: Editorial Félix Varela; 2016. p. 79-118.

7. Carrancho Herrero MT. Reproducción, préstamo y consulta en museos, archivos, bibliotecas y otras instituciones. En: Román Pérez RE. Propiedad intelectual en las universidades públicas. Titularidad, gestión y transferencia. Granada: Editorial Comares; 2016. p. 143-174.

Declaration of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Contribution of the authors

Conception of the idea, bibliographic review and writing of this research work: Ana María Pereda Mirabal
Drafting and approval of the final version of the research work: María Esperanza Mirabal Mirabal

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