----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Here is the VRA statement about why they haven't endorsed the
VRA CONFU guidelines for digital images.
Maryly Snow

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> From <a href="/scripts/wa.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind9611%26L%3DARLIS-L%26E%3D7bit7BIT%26P%3D402023%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> Fri Nov 22 12:27:28 1996
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> Date:         Fri, 22 Nov 1996 20:23:26 +0400
> Reply-To: Visual Resources Association <<a href="/scripts/wa.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind9611%26L%3DARLIS-L%26E%3D7bit7BIT%26P%3D402023%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>
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> From: Joseph Romano <<a href="/scripts/wa.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind9611%26L%3DARLIS-L%26E%3D7bit7BIT%26P%3D402023%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>
> Organization: Visual Resources Association
> Subject:      CONFU Guidelines Position Statement
> To: Multiple recipients of list VRA-L <<a href="/scripts/wa.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind9611%26L%3DARLIS-L%26E%3D7bit7BIT%26P%3D402023%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>
>
>    VRA Position Statement on the CONFU Guidelines for Digital Image
>
>                         The Visual Resources Association has participated in t
> on Fair Use since the conference was convened by the National
> Information Infrastructure (NII) Task Force.  Sandra Walker, VRA Past
> President, issued a statement at the public hearings held on September
> 22, 1994 at the Library of Congress.  Since 1994, the VRA has been
> represented at all of the meetings of the Digital Images Working Group.
> Our representatives, Kathe Albrecht and Macie Hall, have worked very
> hard to educate the working group participants regarding the needs and
> methods of our members.
>
>                         The VRA constituency is made up primarily of visual re
> professionals employed in non-profit educational institutions.  In many
> ways, the proposed guidelines represent an unprecedented attempt to deal
> with the complexities of copyright and fair use within the context of
> our profession.  The VRA remains hopeful that in time such guidelines
> can be endorsed.  However, the executive board of the VRA believes that
> to make a decision regarding the endorsement of these particular
> guidelines at this time would be premature.
>
>                         Many of our members have expressed compelling reasons
> endorsing these guidelines.  Some of these reasons deal with particulars
> that are perhaps negotiable.  But what is most disturbing is that the
> CONFU Guidelines for Digital Images place the burden of clearing the
> rights to images entirely on the users.  The methods described for
> clearing these rights are not just inconvenient, but completely
> unworkable.  Our profession, for the most part, is charged with
> providing educators with surrogate images.  Although it is our practice
> to document the sources for all the images we use, copyright claims to
> surrogate images often extend beyond such documentation, and so are
> ultimately beyond our control.  There is nothing resembling a "copyright
> clearance center" for images.  Also, none of the other guidelines
> presume to place a deadline on usage of materials or instruct the
> librarian (or visual resources professional) as to the procedures to be
> followed to obtain permissions.
>
>                         These guidelines could be very useful if the process f
> rights to surrogate images did not place such strains on the staffs and
> working budgets of visual resources curators.  Unless visual librarians
> can digitize their collections under fair use without complicated and
> cumbersome restrictions, many digitization projects will more than
> likely be abandoned.  One of the major purposes of these guidelines was
> to enable educators to use digital images in the classroom.  It would
> indeed be a shame if the outcome of such guidelines had the opposite
> effect.
>
> Joseph Romano
> VRA President
> Oberlin College
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