Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) and Creative Commons Canada, in partnership with Creative Commons Corp. and the Wikimedia Foundation, invite Canada’s library community to help us test the Canadian Public Domain Registry beta website.

The ground-breaking project – the most comprehensive of its kind in Canada – will create an online, globally searchable catalogue of published Canadian literary works. The Registry’s integrated rights calculator allows users to automatically determine each work’s copyright status on an evolving basis. The Registry will also link to digital versions of the work and provide information about where a paper-copy can be purchased, when available.

In essence, we’re building a public domain library and that’s why we need you (Canada’s librarians) to help test our beta website and ensure the Registry is ready for the public-at-large. We also invite leaders in the library community to get involved with charting a course for its future. Any amount of participation is helpful and welcome. Please contact us now, we will reply with further instructions, directions to the beta test website and the secret password.

What: Canadian Public Domain Registry beta test
When: October 15 - December 15, 2008
Who: The Canadian Library community
Where: Contact marcus@creativecommons.ca for details