University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Copyright renewal of U.S. books published in 1932: Re-analyzing Ringer's study to determine a more accurate renewal rate for books

Carlstone, Jamie; Stein, Ayla; Norman, Michael A.; Wilkin, John Price

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/100854

Description

Title
Copyright renewal of U.S. books published in 1932: Re-analyzing Ringer's study to determine a more accurate renewal rate for books
Author(s)
  • Carlstone, Jamie
  • Stein, Ayla
  • Norman, Michael A.
  • Wilkin, John Price
Issue Date
2018
Keyword(s)
  • Copyright
  • Books
  • Public domain
  • Copyright renewal
Abstract
In 1961, Barbara Ringer published “Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright,” where she determined the renewal rate for fiscal year 1932 U.S. publications. In that study, she concludes that the renewal rate for Class A works for FY1932 was 7 percent. This paper seeks to reassess Ringer’s study by analyzing the copyright registrations for 1932 and their renewals published in the Catalogue of Copyright Entries. This was done to determine a renewal rate specifically for books rather than Class A as a whole, which includes other materials. The analysis determines that the copyright renewal rate for books is actually 26 to 33 percent, significantly higher than 7 percent claimed by Ringer.
Publisher
Association of College and Research Libraries
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/100854
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.79.5.697
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 held by Jamie Carlstone, Ayla Stein, Michael A. Norman, and John P. Wilkin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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