Is a Combined School/Public Library Right for Your Community?

This document is intended to assist Iowa communities in making informed decisions on combining school and public library services. It provides decision-makers with a means of assessing the feasibility of establishing a combined library and, if the decision is made to proceed, with a Planning Guide that addresses the many areas of library operations that need to be considered if the combined library is to be successful. Alternatives to combining libraries exist. Contracted services provide one such option. There are many areas where school and public libraries can and should collaborate in order to provide better service to the community. These alternatives are also outlined in this document.

Let the Sun Shine In: Open Government and the Public's Right-to-Know in Montana's 1972 Constitution - Mike Meloy "In the Crucible of Change"

Abstract to be posted.

A manifesto for an e-lending limitation in copyright

In the European Union, lending is an exclusive right for copyright and related rights, but Member States can transform public lending to a right of remuneration and even exempt some establishments from any payment. The making available of works online is not covered by the public lending right regime of the Rental and Lending Directive but is considered as an act of making available governed by the InfoSoc Directive. As a consequence, libraries are currently not allowed to digitally transmit works to their patrons as lending, but have entered into licenses with publishers to develop an offer of lending of e-books, also called e-lending, with the intermediation of dedicated platforms operated by commercial actors. Compared to physical lending, e-lending is not based on ownership of the book by libraries but on its provision by this intermediary. This paper discusses how the objective of enabling libraries to engage in e-lending should be achieved, and what is the proper dividing line between a market-based solution, as developing today, and a limitation to exclusive rights. The impact of an extension of the public lending right to e-lending should be assessed, but not based on a criterion of direct substitution of a book on loan at the library to a book bought at a retailer. By definition, libraries are substitutes to normal trade. Instead, the overall effect of lending to the commercialisation of books and other works should be verified. Particular conditions for a limitation in favour of lending are also addressed, and notably the modalities of lending (a limited duration, one simultaneous user per title, …), not to make e-lending through libraries easier and preferable to the normal acquisition of an e-book. This paper argues in favour of some and controlled extension of the public lending right to cover the lending of e-books and other digital content. For the role of libraries is essential in providing access to works and culture to readers who would or could not rely only on normal acquisition of books or other items on the market, to works that are not provided by the market, and to material for research. Libraries are a third sector providing access to works, aside the market and non-market exchanges between individuals. This role should not lose its relevance in the digital context, or it would culturally impoverish future generations of readers.

Re-assessing the 'public's right to know' - the shift from journalism to political PR

The Computer Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990 : the nonprofit library lending exemption to the "rental right" : a report of the acting Register of Copyrights.

"March 1994."

El dret de préstec a les biblioteques: panorama internacional

The article analyses the functioning of the different systems employed for compensating authors for the right of public lending in libraries. Following a historical review, the text explores the principal aspects covered by standards: libraries included, works affected, methods for calculating the compensations, economic costs of the systems and beneficiaries. The main conclusions make reference to the diversity of legislative approaches in different countries and to the probable increase in the number of countries that will be applying this type of norm in the coming years

Database Rights in Safe European Home: The Path to More Rigorous Protection of Information

1. Introduction "The one that has compiled ... a database, the collection, securing the validity or presentation of which has required an essential investment, has the sole right to control the content over the whole work or over either a qualitatively or quantitatively substantial part of the work both by means of reproduction and by making them available to the public", Finnish Copyright Act, section 49.1 These are the laconic words that implemented the much-awaited and hotly debated European Community Directive on the legal protection of databases,2 the EDD, into Finnish Copyright legislation in 1998. Now in the year 2005, after more than half a decade of the domestic implementation it is yet uncertain as to the proper meaning and construction of the convoluted qualitative criteria the current legislation employs as a prerequisite for the database protection both in Finland and within the European Union. Further, this opaque Pan-European instrument has the potential of bringing about a number of far-reaching economic and cultural ramifications, which have remained largely uncharted or unobserved. Thus the task of understanding this particular and currently peculiarly European new intellectual property regime is twofold: first, to understand the mechanics and functioning of the EDD and second, to realise the potential and risks inherent in the new legislation in economic, cultural and societal dimensions. 2. Subject-matter of the study: basic issues The first part of the task mentioned above is straightforward: questions such as what is meant by the key concepts triggering the functioning of the EDD such as presentation of independent information, what constitutes an essential investment in acquiring data and when the reproduction of a given database reaches either qualitatively or quantitatively the threshold of substantiality before the right-holder of a database can avail himself of the remedies provided by the statutory framework remain unclear and call for a careful analysis. As for second task, it is already obvious that the practical importance of the legal protection providedby the database right is in the rapid increase. The accelerating transformationof information into digital form is an existing fact, not merely a reflection of a shape of things to come in the future. To take a simple example, the digitisation of a map, traditionally in paper format and protected by copyright, can provide the consumer a markedly easier and faster access to the wanted material and the price can be, depending on the current state of the marketplace, cheaper than that of the traditional form or even free by means of public lending libraries providing access to the information online. This also renders it possible for authors and publishers to make available and sell their products to markedly larger, international markets while the production and distribution costs can be kept at minimum due to the new electronic production, marketing and distributionmechanisms to mention a few. The troublesome side is for authors and publishers the vastly enhanced potential for illegal copying by electronic means, producing numerous virtually identical copies at speed. The fear of illegal copying canlead to stark technical protection that in turn can dampen down the demand for information goods and services and furthermore, efficiently hamper the right of access to the materials available lawfully in electronic form and thus weaken the possibility of access to information, education and the cultural heritage of anation or nations, a condition precedent for a functioning democracy. 3. Particular issues in Digital Economy and Information Networks All what is said above applies a fortiori to the databases. As a result of the ubiquity of the Internet and the pending breakthrough of Mobile Internet, peer-to-peer Networks, Localand Wide Local Area Networks, a rapidly increasing amount of information not protected by traditional copyright, such as various lists, catalogues and tables,3previously protected partially by the old section 49 of the Finnish Copyright act are available free or for consideration in the Internet, and by the same token importantly, numerous databases are collected in order to enable the marketing, tendering and selling products and services in above mentioned networks. Databases and the information embedded therein constitutes a pivotal element in virtually any commercial operation including product and service development, scientific research and education. A poignant but not instantaneously an obvious example of this is a database consisting of physical coordinates of a certain selected group of customers for marketing purposes through cellular phones, laptops and several handheld or vehicle-based devices connected online. These practical needs call for answer to a plethora of questions already outlined above: Has thecollection and securing the validity of this information required an essential input? What qualifies as a quantitatively or qualitatively significant investment? According to the Directive, the database comprises works, information and other independent materials, which are arranged in systematic or methodical way andare individually accessible by electronic or other means. Under what circumstances then, are the materials regarded as arranged in systematic or methodical way? Only when the protected elements of a database are established, the question concerning the scope of protection becomes acute. In digital context, the traditional notions of reproduction and making available to the public of digital materials seem to fit ill or lead into interpretations that are at variance with analogous domain as regards the lawful and illegal uses of information. This may well interfere with or rework the way in which the commercial and other operators have to establish themselves and function in the existing value networks of information products and services. 4. International sphere After the expiry of the implementation period for the European Community Directive on legal protection of databases, the goals of the Directive must have been consolidated into the domestic legislations of the current twenty-five Member States within the European Union. On one hand, these fundamental questions readily imply that the problemsrelated to correct construction of the Directive underlying the domestic legislation transpire the national boundaries. On the other hand, the disputes arisingon account of the implementation and interpretation of the Directive on the European level attract significance domestically. Consequently, the guidelines on correct interpretation of the Directive importing the practical, business-oriented solutions may well have application on European level. This underlines the exigency for a thorough analysis on the implications of the meaning and potential scope of Database protection in Finland and the European Union. This position hasto be contrasted with the larger, international sphere, which in early 2005 does differ markedly from European Union stance, directly having a negative effect on international trade particularly in digital content. A particular case in point is the USA, a database producer primus inter pares, not at least yet having aSui Generis database regime or its kin, while both the political and academic discourse on the matter abounds. 5. The objectives of the study The above mentioned background with its several open issues calls for the detailed study of thefollowing questions: -What is a database-at-law and when is a database protected by intellectual property rights, particularly by the European database regime?What is the international situation? -How is a database protected and what is its relation with other intellectual property regimes, particularly in the Digital context? -The opportunities and threats provided by current protection to creators, users and the society as a whole, including the commercial and cultural implications? -The difficult question on relation of the Database protection and protection of factual information as such. 6. Dsiposition The Study, in purporting to analyse and cast light on the questions above, is divided into three mainparts. The first part has the purpose of introducing the political and rationalbackground and subsequent legislative evolution path of the European database protection, reflected against the international backdrop on the issue. An introduction to databases, originally a vehicle of modern computing and information andcommunication technology, is also incorporated. The second part sets out the chosen and existing two-tier model of the database protection, reviewing both itscopyright and Sui Generis right facets in detail together with the emergent application of the machinery in real-life societal and particularly commercial context. Furthermore, a general outline of copyright, relevant in context of copyright databases is provided. For purposes of further comparison, a chapter on the precursor of Sui Generi, database right, the Nordic catalogue rule also ensues. The third and final part analyses the positive and negative impact of the database protection system and attempts to scrutinize the implications further in the future with some caveats and tentative recommendations, in particular as regards the convoluted issue concerning the IPR protection of information per se, a new tenet in the domain of copyright and related rights.

L'obligation de non-concurrence dans les sociétés de professionnels : vers une théorie de liberté de choix contractuelle

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maître en droit (LL.M.)"

Le droit de distribution électronique : essai sur le droit de distribution des oeuvres en droit d'auteur canadien, américain, anglais et français

"Thèse présentée à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de docteur en droit"

Transparência no governo do Estado do Rio de Janeiro: análise e recomendações

O presente trabalho apresenta um diagnóstico e uma análise da transparência no governo do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Desde a sanção da Lei de Acesso a Informações – LAI no Brasil, lei n° 12.527/2011, e as regulamentações dos governos subnacionais, o estado do Rio de Janeiro tem sido avaliado negativamente por instituições de ensino e pesquisa e por metodologias desenvolvidas pelo próprio governo federal, no sentido principal de garantir o direito fundamental de acesso à informação. Para caracterizar a situação do Rio de Janeiro, foi realizada uma análise da transparência sob quatro dimensões: (i) legal; (ii) tecnológica; (iii) organizacional; e (iv) política. Disto, decorre o desafio que conduz o presente trabalho, que é o de aperfeiçoar a transparência fluminense, mediante a sistematização de diretrizes com recomendações de melhoria, a partir das normas vigentes, das boas práticas no setor público e das inadequações do governo fluminense, também apontando os benefícios específicos que as medidas concretas podem gerar. Ao final, são sugeridos passos para melhorar o compromisso do estado com a transparência pública.

O incesto : discurso e ideologia

This research had as purpose to establish the logic symbolic present in the contemporary society that facilitated the emergency of a public speech on the incest, and, consequently, to demonstrate the ideological nature that structures it. Event associated to the order of the taboo, the incest would be the transgression of the injunction that, second Lévi-Strauss, facilitated the emergency of the Culture while symbolic order, differentiated of the natural order. The injunction of the incest would reveal the elementary and universal structures of the order symbolic presents in the human societies: the demand of the Rule as rule; the reciprocity and the gift, present element in the social changes that it transforms the individuals in partners, increasing a new quality in the transferred value, according to Lévi-Strauss. Starting from this, I developed the hypothesis second which the phenomenon of the alone incest became an event of discursive order and public as right social transformations affected the normative system (social representations, values, moral) regulator of the relationships among the social subjects, being reflected like this, in the own structuring of the Law. A second work hypothesis was developed starting from that. I develop it leaving of the argument that if when inserting the discussion of the thematic of the defense of the children and adolescent rights, being then, considering it while "privileged modality of sexual abuse against children", the present central subjects in the structuring of the social entail would be leaved. Being like this, the partner-institutional speech on the incest would answer the social demands of order and social control, becoming like this, discursive formations of ideological character. This research work tried to follow the hypothesis above referred, demonstrating the singular sense that it will be attributed to the incest in the contemporary society, particularly, its relationship with the Law and the transgression in the contemporary society

Parâmetros para justiciabilidade do direito social à saúde: o caso do estado do Pará

A partir do debate da chamada judicialização da saúde e seus impactos orçamentários e de planejamento das políticas públicas da área, a pesquisa trabalha com a hipótese de que o poder Judiciário deve buscar maior racionalização na tarefa de decidir este tipo de demanda, com a proposição de parâmetros/critérios racionais para tanto; buscando-se restabelecer o equilíbrio entre a faceta individual e coletiva do direito à saúde. Para tanto, uma abordagem constitucional e do direito sanitário é apresentada, sob o paradigma da medicina baseada em evidências. A jurisprudência do Suprermo Tribunal Federal sobre o direito social à saúde é exposta e sistematizada, enfatizando-se a Audiência Pública ocorrida em 2009 neste Tribunal. Procurando compreender de que forma e se este debate mais recente encontrou ecos na realidade regional e local, foi realizada pesquisa a acórdãos do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Pará, julgados entre 2008 e 2011, comparando-se com a jurisprudência do Egrégio Tribunal e visando, igualmente, conhecer as características de tais demandas a partir dos seguintes critérios: espécie de autor, representação em juízo, doença de que padecem, objeto da demanda, espécie de ação interposta, perfil dos recorrentes e resultado da demanda, bem como os principais argumentos apresentados pelos atores presentes na dinâmica – autores, réus e magistrados. A partir da pesquisa empreendida, propõem-se parâmetros específicos para a justiciabilidade do direito objeto de estudo, a partir do referencial teórico do direito como integridade de Ronald Dworkin, restabelecendo-se a integração entre direito subjetivo público e direito coletivo, como complementares à natureza do direito à saúde.

Politícas públicas no Brasil: o desafio de garantir os direitos da infância

The article talks about the challenge of the construction of public policies for the child in the age group from 0 to 6 years old in Brazil, in the perspective of the right guarantees. One can presuppose that to comprehend the development of these policies, it is necessary to analyze the historical route of its assistance, possibilities and limits. It is also important to consider the contradictory relationships of power present in society, and its influence in the building of the conception of child and childhood that are very far to be neutral words, so they are policies. In this point of view, this work analyzes the arrangement of the current policies of assistance to children, making clear the shape as they were reorganized by the neo liberal policies and set of instructions of international organizations. The studies show that, instead of public and universal policies, programs and actions are introduced based on the focus in the fight against poverty, made with low costs and questionable quality.