Re: Hathi Orphans?

[<jean.claude.guedon@umontreal.ca>]

Many thanks for attracting our attention to the ARROW project. I 
was not aware of this European endeavour, and, after browsing the 
pdf mentioned by Victoria Lustigman, I find the approach 
promising.

This said, it is not "the" publishers that are involved, but 
rather some publishers. Those publishers are indeed making an 
honest effort to sort out the orphan status of books under 
rights, and they should be strongly encouraged, supported, 
applauded and helped, if only to bring all, or at least most 
publishers on board.

Thank you, Ms. Lustigman, for bringing this important piece of 
information to light. But in view of the number of publishers not 
yet involved in this kind of effort, my comments are not so 
extraordinary, only imperfectly documented, which is different. I 
stand partially corrected.

Jean-Claude Guedon

Le vendredi 30 septembre 2011, Victoria Lustigman a ecrit:

> These comments are extraordinary in light of the fact that 
> publishers are one of the main protagonists in finding 
> solutions to Orphan Works issues.
>
> Take a look at the ARROW Project, for instance - the website is 
> here: http://www.arrow-net.eu/
>
> and a recent paper about ARROW is here:
> http://www.publishersassociation.org.uk/images/stories/PLS%20ALCS%20ARROW%20paper.pdf
>
> As some readers of this list may already know ARROW is a 
> collaborative European project that enables a diligent search 
> for rightsholders and speeds up the process for mass 
> digitisation. You'll see from the links above that publishers 
> are active partners in this project and have supported, 
> advocated and progressed it from the beginning. This is hardly 
> a sign that publishers are not making an 'honest effort' to 
> sort out these highly important issues.
>
> Victoria Lustigman
> Head of Communications
> The Publishers Association Limited
> 29B Montague Street
> WC1B 5BW
> e: vlustigman@publishers.org.uk
> w: www.publishers.org.uk