DOI debuts for cyber-copyright.(American Library Association expresses concern about the Digital Object Identifier system)(Brief Article)

The Association of American Publishers has just launched the new Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system, an Internet-based technology seen as key to the successful electronic distribution of copyrighted material. However, the application of a unique and permanent identifying number to digital content could theater libraries' capacity to use such material, warns the American Library Association (ALA), if copyright law is not updated to maintain a balance between protection and access.

Thus the DOI--which was demonstrated in September and then internationally at the Frankfurt Book Fair this month--intensifies the battle over new federal copyright proposals (see News, LJ, …