Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt. Navigating Legal Issues in Archives. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2008. 329p. alk. paper, $69.95 (ISBN 1931666288). LC 2008-015865.
As copyright and privacy laws continue to evolve, archivists are frequently facing the challenge of deciding how to accession new material, and in some instances, whether they should even be accepting certain items. Even the long-standing process of establishing provenance and securing proper donation agreements has been complicated in recent years as new legislation has created unforeseen problems with once codified procedures.
Navigating Legal Issues for Archives is designed to address these evolving problems, and with degrees in library science and law, as well as experience in historic and corporate archives, Menzi Behrnd-Klodt is uniquely qualified to provide the necessary guidance. The book is divided into four distinct sections, with each addressing a broad topic that is further broken down into individual chapters; each chapter has its own descriptive title and begins with a bullet point summation of why the subject is important to archivists and who might find it useful.
Behrnd-Klodt opens her discussion with a section designed to help professionals understand the legal process ("The Legal Framework"). The chapters within are concise and contain easy-to-follow explanations of legal terminology that provide the vocabulary for later sections. While the purpose is to give the reader a basic immersion in the way our legal system works, the conversation is framed around the book’s subject—archives—and contains examples appropriate for the field.
The six chapters in the section entitled "Acquisition and Ownership Legal Issues" will arguably be of the greatest benefit to cultural, historic, and special collections archivists. By examining the fundamental concerns of ownership and the legal pitfalls associated with acquiring and accessioning collections, Behrnd-Klodt provides answers to questions that plague even experienced archivists. The discussion throughout is punctuated with tangible examples of how these issues should be approached, while sample forms (deed of gift, deaccessioning, and loan agreements) provide a solid basis for aiding archivists in developing individual policy.
As the archive profession has grown, greater numbers of organizations have been developing their own collections and creating diverse groups of record types. Because different records have different legal complications, the "Access and Administration Issues" section breaks down the myriad of problems associated with these sources, including lawyer’s records, student records, medical records, and even presidential papers. While these may not be common donations for all archives, the nature of specialized institutions raises the possibility that such items may eventually wind up in a collection almost anywhere.
The Administration section continues with discussions on how best to administer public records as well as the complications that may arise from Replevin (a legal process to recover records); the consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for corporate archives; and a look at the latest legislation on cultural property and how it may impact special collections, museums, and historical societies. Even though each of these chapters would likely apply to a specific type of archive, the implications for much of this could easily have an impact on the entire profession.
The final section—"Copyright and Intellectual Property Law"—examines perhaps the trickiest aspect of modern archival work, especially for institutions that deal with personal primary sources, regardless of their format. As copyright law has changed over the last century, librarians and archivists have frequently reexamined how we approach the accessibility of items.
The 1976 Copyright Act changed the formal requirement for registering and obtaining ownership to the more immediate process of having it conferred automatically as it takes on a "fixed form." For archives, this means that every letter, diary, poem, essay, or any original work has to be treated as if it carries a copyright, regardless of whether it has ever been published. While donation forms are used to offset the potential problems from such rights, archives must still exercise caution.
As Behrnd-Klodt illustrates during an in-depth discussion of "Fair Use" (a widely used shield for libraries and archives), the actual protection provided is often tenuous and requires a substantial amount of diligence on the part of the archivist. In fact, each of these final chapters acts to reinforce the practices and procedures that are outlined in earlier chapters of the book.
Ultimately, Navigating Legal Issues in Archives contains a thorough examination of the kind of issues archivists need to examine for their individual institutions. While it would serve as an excellent introduction to anyone who is new to the profession and concerned about access issues, its bullet-pointed summaries, chaptered sections, and sample forms make it equally valuable as a permanent reference source.—Timothy Hensley, Virginia Holocaust Museum, Richmond, Virginia.