NLA copyright licence frequently asked questions
What am I doing when I grant PANDORA Archive partner oranisations a copyright licence?
When you grant a copyright licence, you are permitting the PANDORA Archive partner agency to make a copy of your publication as it appears on your website and to store it in an archive of Australian web publications maintaned at the National Library of Australia. You are also permitting the National Library to take the necessary steps to preserve your publication and for it to be made accessible to the public via the Internet now and in perpetuity. The copyright licence would pertain only to the publication specified in the letter of request. Usually, if you have more than one publication selected for archiving separate copyright licence would be sought for each one. However, in the case of some high volume publishers or with websites that persist and update, a broader permission will be sought to archive all content on a website including new content as it is published.
Am I giving away copyright in my publication?
No. You still retain full copyright in your publication, both in the original version of your website and the archived version maintained at the National Library. You are granting the limited rights to copy your publication and provide access to it, in perpetuity. If any third party wanted to copy more than a reasonable portion (as defined by the Copyright Act 1968) either from the original version on your website or from the archived version, they would still be obliged to seek your permission.
What is this licence?
The licence consists of the letter sent by the PANDORA partner organisation requesting that you grant a copyright licence and your response if you agree to grant it. The license is requested and obtained generally by email.
Why do you call this a licence?
'Granting a licence' is the legal term for giving permission to copy a publication, in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968.
Why is a copyright licence necessary?
While the legal deposit provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 permit the National Library to collect online material, PANDORA partner organisations currently continue to seek licences to ensure compliance with the Act. This is primarily to ensure clarity for publishers when PANDORA partner organisations are seeking permisson to copy more than the 'reasonable portion' of the work that is otherwise permitted (i.e. separate from the legal deposit provisions) under the Act.
What is the National Library and PANDORA partner organisations permitted to do with my publication, if I grant a licence?
If you grant a copyright licence, as set out in the letter of request, the PANDORA partner organisations would be permitted to copy your publication; store it at the National Library; take the necessary steps to preserve it so that it remains accessible as hardware and software changes in the future; and provide online public access to it through the Australian Web Archive in perpetuity.
What if other copyright owners have an interest in the publication?
You have been contacted to request a copyright licence because, from the publication, it appeared to that you are the copyright owner, the principal copyright owner, or someone acting on behalf of copyright owners, such as the editor of an e-journal. If others also own copyright in the publication, then they must also be agreeable to the granting of a copyright licence. If you are not the sole copyright owner, we would appreciate it if you would gain the permission of the others before granting the copyright licence. We assume that in granting permission all contributors to your publication are informed and in agreement that their work will be archived at the National Library. If you are not the person with authority to give permission, please advise the requesting PANDORA partner organisation who is.
How does the National Library take care of my publication?
The Library aims to make your publication available to researchers now and in the future. So that researchers can discover that your publication exists and where it can be accessed, it may be catalogued and the record added to online catalogues and to the National Bibliographic Database. The catalogue record contains an active link both to the original version of the publication on the publisher's site and to the version in the Australian Web Archive. When a researcher opts to look at the version in the Archive, a title entry page displays first, providing information about the title, including a link to the publisher's site.
As hardware and software changes over time, the National Library will take the necessary preservation actions to keep publications accessible. If access to a publication needs to be restricted for some reason (for instance, it is a commercial title, or the contents are culturally sensitive) the Library can ensure that necessary protective measures are put in place.
Will archiving my publication affect my search engine rankings?
The archived version will not effect search engine rankings as the National Library does not expose archived content to general search engines such as Google. This is done so that archived content does not compete with the original, live website in search engine results and compromise the publishers' and authors' rights to exploit and control their content on the live web.
For further information contact: Manager, Web Archiving. Email: Telephone: 61 2 6262 1411
