§170 American Television and Radio Archives

Summary

The Librarian of Congress must create and run the American Television and Radio Archives at the Library of Congress. The Archives must save TV and radio programs that matter to U.S. culture and history and let historians and scholars study them without promoting copyright violations. After talking with interested groups and people, the Librarian must choose which broadcasts to keep. The Archives may include copies and phonorecords (audio recordings) of programs from the United States and other countries that have public, cultural, or historical value. Items may come from copies acquired under sections 407 and 408 of title 17, transfers from the Library’s current collections, donations or exchanges, or purchases. The Librarian must keep and publish catalogs and make the materials available for research under rules set by the Library. Even if section 106 of title 17 normally limits copying, the Librarian may, under Library rules, record regularly scheduled newscasts or on-the-spot news for preservation or security, make unedited subject compilations of those recordings, and lend or deposit such reproductions to researchers or to libraries that meet section 108(a) of title 17. The Librarian and Library staff acting under these rules are not liable for another person’s copyright infringement unless they knowingly took part. This is called the American Television and Radio Archives Act.