| Summary: | The copyright acts and legal deposit provisions have played a significant role in the development of the Bodleian since 1610. Over time libraries have taken on the task of being benevolent custodians of copyright works, and the library privilege provisions of the copyright acts recognise this. Queen Anne’s Statute dealt with both the intellectual property and its material expression. From the invention of printing until the twentieth century the determining factor in the relation between the two has been the investment required in the means of production. The balance between them and the public good has been the subject of debate ever since. Starting with the invention of new media, travelling via the photocopier and continuing, but not ending, with digital media and the internet, the economic realities underpinning the means of production have changed. Where does the economic balance now lie, and where do libraries stand in the equation?
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