Analysis of Issues and Challenges of Copyright of Textual Digital Resources from the Viewpoint of Managers of Academic Digital Libraries in Tehran

Due to the inherent features of digital environment, such as the ease of dissemination of information widely and quickly, or the possibility of manipulating digital content by anonymous users, the digital environment and digital libraries pose many challenges to copyright and legislative decision-making to approve new laws and rules. Investigating the issues and challenges of copyright of digital content especially textual resources can help to develop digital libraries. The aim of this research was to identify, determine and prioritize the issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources from the viewpoint of managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran.

The methodology of this applied research was the analytical survey and the total number of managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran was selected as the research population (31 managers). The data were collected through library studies and a questionnaire. First, previous studies and the documentary research method were used to review the fundamental issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources in order to design a questionnaire based on the research model. Then, by reviewing the literature and the basis of the research model, a questionnaire with 60 items and eight sections was developed after validation using expert opinion and reliability verification using Cronbach's alpha method and distributed among 31 managers of academic digital libraries in Tehran. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistical methods by the SPSS and the Smart PLS softwares

The findings showed that from the viewpoints of managers of academic digital libraries' in Tehran, issues and challenges of copyright of textual digital resources are as follows in order of importance: defective copyright laws, exceptions and fair use, the nature of the digital space, libraries actions, protective and system and network technologies, economy, contract and licenses, and moral considerations. The model validity of the issues and challenges affecting the copyright of digital textual resources was verified using structural and measurement models. Indicators of the nature of digital environment in order of importance were: the ease of unauthorized sharing of copyrighted works simultaneously among multiple users; the ease of scientific and literary manipulation (plagiarism); the ambiguity of responsibility and the right to protect the digital content by digital libraries; the ease of copy and paste of digital texts; the distortion and dissemination of copyrighted materials; the problem of validating the authenticity of digital content; the possibility of unauthorized reproduction at the international level; the inaccurate identification of the production site and the publisher of the work; and failure to identify the provenance and publisher of digital content.

The challenge of defective copyright laws is the most important problem facing the copyright of textual digital resources. Due to the widespread use of digital information resources, there is a strong need to solve problems and challenges related to the defective copyright laws. Therefore, it is important to investigate and resolve issues related to elements and constituents of copyright, including the limitations of copyright for digital libraries due to the legal issues, the challenges of new media and data formats, the need for contracts between publishers and content creators, etc.