Scanned (PDF) original descriptions and copyrights

[Geoff Morse]

Hello taxacomers,

I'm quite interested in this discussion because I've been scanning the
original descriptions, redescriptions, and general taxonomic treatments of
the bruchine beetles and incorporating them into a database that I've been
developing.  For now this is only for personal use, but obviously I would
like this effort to be of use to the general community at some time in the
future.  I had been intending to simply disable any public access to the
scanned literature for fear of copyright infringement, or for doing some
sort of treatment so that only those papers that are beyond copyright law
or for which I have received waivers can be viewed.  I'd appreciate any
insight into this as I think it is probably germaine to this conversation
and to the actual utility of scanned articles in a web database.

Thanks,
Geoff Morse

Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
26 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: (617) 496-8146
Lab:  (617) 495-8971
FAX: (617) 495-5667