Copyright for Caribbean Studies
The guide provides information on sharing and reusing primary sources for teaching and scholarship, with a focus on serving dLOC partners in the Caribbean, US, and Europe.
Ethical and Legal Stewardship of dLOC Collections
dLOC (the Digital Library of the Caribbean) supports a way of working called postcustodialism. This means over 100 partner organizations agree to share digital copies of their materials, but they keep control of the original items.
This way of working is built on trust. Everyone involved—hub organizations, partners, and users—must think carefully about legal and ethical issues when they share or reuse the millions of digital items in dLOC. This includes following laws about copyright and privacy, and also respecting cultural or community norms, even if the law does not mention them. This isn’t easy: small variations in laws, relationships with donors and community partners, and organizational sustainability plans shape how partners think about ownership and how they communicate that to dLOC users.
To implement this collaborative framework and support a good faith commitment to our shared partnership, dLOC offers this guidance and resources on copyright and related issues. While this document is geared toward active contributors to dLOC collections, much of it may also be useful to other practitioners, researchers, and educators navigating rights issues in Caribbean collections globally. Thanks to advisors Rachael Samberg, Juliet Glenn-Callender, Kezia Bacchus, Arnetta Girardeau, Rachel Deblinger, Elydia Barret and other experts for sharing preliminary ideas, resources, and feedback on this document.
