We have in this proposal, as I take it, an attack on liberty, proceeding from one who would not willingly attack it, but illustrating the truth of the saying "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." It is proposed to publish virtually an index librorum prohibitorum and an index expurgatorius. And of all efforts ever conceived along this line, this is precisely the worst because of its apparently impersonal character. Let the ordinary reader go to a guide and find a book described as unscientific and superficial, and what weight can it have for him. The authority has spoken. It is well enough for librarians personally to guide and direct their constituencies, and one review may be weighed against another review. The old methods even must be used by librarians cautiously, and they are ample for the purpose to be attained. The great point is that there should be a fluid current of opinion, and every facility for a revision of judgment should be maintained. Reviewers themselves change their views. I, myself, remember reviews which I wrote of works by two distinguished American authors, which I now regret, as my estimates were, I believe, not altogether sound and did an injustice to the authors, namely John Fiske and Lester F. Ward. But after all, I suppose no special harm was done, but if extracts from these reviews had been made part of a system of evaluation it would have been different.
Librarians as librarians must watch with impartiality the struggles among tendencies and schools of thought, and above all things, endeavor to keep open a free way for new truth.
[BOOK COPYRIGHT.]
By Thorvald Solberg, Register of Copyright, Washington. D. C.
In order to keep within the time limit provided in the program I have been obliged to refrain from even touching upon many points, but have endeavored to present certain general principles governing copyright in books. I shall, therefore, only attempt to make clear, as briefly as possible:
1. What is copyrighted, i.e., what can properly be designated as a "book" in order to secure copyright protection thereon;
2. What is the nature of the protection secured under the copyright law;
3. The limitation in time during which the protection applies, and its territorial limitations;
4. Who may obtain protection—the difference between an "author" and a "proprietor";
5. International copyright;