Essential Law For Information Professionals

Essential Law for Information Professionals, fourth edition, provides up-to-date and easy-to-follow practical guidance on the law as it affects information management and the principles underlying practice. Using individual cases to illustrate these core principles and contextualise regulations, it cuts through the legalese to provide exactly what’s needed in an easily digestible format showing examples of how the law has worked in practice in specific legal cases. The book gives readers the tools to quickly assess legal hazards and identify solutions. Information law is a particularly fast moving area of law. In the eight years that have passed since the best-selling third edition was published, there have been many changes to the legislation and numerous legal cases which have further developed our understanding of the law. The fourth edition fully reflects those changes, which include:

Learning the basic concepts of information law and the many legal concepts that come into play in the field of librarianship can seem like an overwhelming endeavor. Drawing upon the authors’ unique backgrounds in both law and librarianship, this text is designed to empower readers to understand, rather than be intimidated by, the law. It melds essential context, salient examples of best practices, and stimulating discussions to illuminate numerous key legal and social issues directly related to the information professions. Helping readers better understand the role of law in their work, this primer discusses information law as part of a continuum of interrelated issues rather than an assortment of discrete topics; examines information law in the context of different types of libraries; delves into the manifold legal issues raised when interacting with patrons and communities, from intellectual freedom topics like censorship and public activities in the library to the legal issues surrounding materials and information access; elucidates operational and management legal issues, including library security, interacting with law enforcement, advocacy, lobbying, funding, human resources, and liability; promotes literacy of the law, its structures, and its terminology as a professional skill; gives readers the tools to find and understand different sources of legal authority and demonstrates how to interpret them when they conflict; and explores information law as a national and cross-national issue.

As more information is collected, shared, and mined, the need to understand and manage information privacy has become a necessity for information professionals. Governments across the globe have enacted information privacy laws. These laws continue to evolve and the information privacy protections that have been established differ by country. A basic understanding of privacy law, information privacy approaches, and information security controls is essential for information professionals to properly manage private/personally identifiable information (PII) in differing capacities in libraries, academic institutions, corporations, hospitals, and state and federal agencies. Understanding and knowledge of applicable privacy laws and the ability to write privacy policies and procedures for the proper handling of PII are crucial skills for librarians and other information managers. Information Privacy Fundamentals for Librarians and Information Professionals is tailored to the needs of librarians and information professionals. It introduces library and information professionals to information privacy, provides an overview of information privacy in the library and information science context, U.S. privacy laws by sector, information privacy policy, and key considerations when planning and creating a privacy program.

The second edition of this popular handbook has been thoroughly updated by the original team of experts and some new contributors, to provide current best practice guidance on the key legal information issues for every type of service. Each of the chapters is updated to reflect general changes in law libraries and their users in the past seven years. In particular, the handbook covers new information technologies, including social networking and communication. New chapters also focus on the key topics of outsourcing, and the impact of the 2007 Legal Services Act. The second edition of this valuable handbook continues to be an important professional reference tool for managers and staff of all types of legal information services, and will help them with the challenges they face in their work every day.

Library, information and knowledge professionals are often at the front line of managing and monitoring their organisation’s legal compliance and have roles and responsibilities in both complying with the law and taking advantage of its provisions. To do their jobs effectively, they need not only to understand the law, but also to develop the skills, confidence and organisational policy frameworks to apply the law’s principles to their context of use. They need the knowledge and skills to help them decide what is acceptable and to develop appropriate risk aware approaches when things are not clear-cut. Information Law: Compliance for librarians, information professionals and knowledge managers provides an overview of important information law issues along with tools and guidance to help readers establish a framework so that their organisation can both comply with its legal responsibilities and support a suitably risk aware environment which optimises access and use. Based on the authors’ many years in professional practice and on their proven ‘Compliance Methodology’, it will help readers understand the legal issues that are central to the information they hold or that they wish to access.

This unique annotated bibliography is a complete, up-to-date guide to sources of information on library science, covering recent books, monographs, periodicals and websites, and selected works of historical importance.

The UK's copyright legislation has been referred to as the longest, most confusing and hardest to navigate in the world. This new handbook brings clarity to what would otherwise be a complex topic. The author provides sensible and realistic guidance for all library and information practitioners. Topics covered include: the copyright exceptions or permitted acts most relevant to library and information professionals lending of print and electronic copyright materials the range of licensing solutions available to ensure that the use of copyright works is done in compliance with the law the options available for making copies of orphan works (such as where this is done as part of digitization projects) an exploration of how information professionals working in the corporate sector can copy material legitimately, and highlights where this differs from practitioners working in not for profit publicly accessible libraries. The handbook is an indispensable guide for library and information professionals; it will be useful for academics and researchers, and it will also be essential reading for anyone wishing to use copyright material legitimately.

Enshrined in the mission statement of ALA, intellectual freedom is one of the core values of the information professions. The importance of ensuring information access to all, and the historical, social, and legal foundations of this commitment, are powerfully explored in this essential primer. Designed to function as both an introductory text for LIS students as well as a complementary resource for current professionals, this book provides a cohesive, holistic perspective on intellectual freedom. Extending beyond censorship to encompass such timely and urgent topics as hate speech and social justice, from this book readers will gain an understanding of the historical and legal roots of intellectual freedom, with an in-depth examination of John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” and Article 19 of the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, and its central concepts and principles; the intersection of intellectual freedom, freedom of expression, and social justice; professional values, codes of ethics, ALA’s Library Bill of Rights, and Freedom to Read/View Statements; pro- and anti- censorship arguments and their use in impeding and facilitating access to information; book banning and internet filtering; privacy and its relationship to information services; U.S. case law and precedents; the basics of U.S. copyright law, including fair use, and how it differs from international copyright law; and emerging global issues and their impact on future intellectual freedom.