Getting the balance right.

Byline: Peter Williams

Getting the balance right

Information professionals should put themselves at the heart of the current debate over payment models for information and content. As the information gatekeeper for their organisations, they exercise a major responsibility on a daily basis in deciding what information is paid for, the value of that information and the subsequent return on investment. As sophisticated buyers of information they have a real insight into the payment models that work for the corporate sector and their sustainability.

This month the UK Intellectual Property Office's digital exceptions consultation closes. The responses to the Gowers Review of intellectual property are bound to raise questions over how content producers should be rewarded.

The British Library gave a platform recently to authors and publishers to voice their concerns about the way in which intellectual property rights are being decided in this digital age. Information professionals may not be used to giving special weight to the voices of fiction authors, but in this era of turbulence it is worth gathering views from all points across ...