There are a number of tools for managing rights and permissions, enabling users to share or reuse content whilst respecting the intellectual property rights of the copyright owners. These include:

ACAP – Automated Content Access Protocol
ARROW – Accessible Registries of Rights Information and Orphan Works towards the EDL
Book Rights Registry
Creative Commons
ONIX for publication licences
The PLUS coalition
Rightslink
iCopyright
Dialog’s ERA (Electronic Redistribution and Archiving service)

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that pupils with additional support needs and their families have (a) full and easy access to learning materials in different formats, (b) knowledge of the transcription services available and (c) an understanding of the alternative or accessible formats that are available when taking exams.

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions have taken place between Ordnance Survey and Google on the use of Ordnance Survey licence data on Google maps; and if she will make a statement.

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the European Commission’s 2005 Recommendation on collective cross-border management of copyright; and what plans his Department has to implement the recommendation.

Where a library or information service provides journal articles to external users, this Q&A explores the various different ways in which copies made for a commercial purpose could be made whilst complying with copyright law.