Perspectives on Rights: Issues of Information Access, Use and Discovery

The digital library community must respond appropriately to the needs of user communities, as well as accordingly to the factors influencing information access and curation. Some of the questions addressed in this chapter, with reference to relevant initiatives and activities, include: what are the efforts of producers to make information accessible to all users?; what is the extent to which users are aware of (1) their rights to access information made available by some information producers (e.g., public access), and (2) efforts to promote equitable access to information (e.g., open access)?; and what is the extent to which users are aware of (1) the ways in which their privacy is protected by professional practice, and (2) the rights (and means) that are exercised by copyright holders in the pursuit of knowledge to maximize the ethical sharing and use of published literature?