Libraries lend materials based on the First Sale doctrine. Libraries share materials and preserve works under specific provisions for libraries in the Act. Libraries are often the only entities that provide access to the vast majority of copyrighted works that lose market vitality long before the expiration of the copyrights, and are often the only entities that preserve public domain materials. Libraries enable users to access copyrighted and public domain works and to exercise their rights under the exceptions and limitations to creators' rights in the law. The creation of new intellectual property building on the old is stimulated as a result of the existence of libraries.
Libraries are places where the public and the proprietary meet.
The multiple roles of libraries as social organizations address the balance in the law, and are shaped by it. Because of their institutional roles, librarians and their associations pay close attention to that balance and to the need to promote users' rights as well as creators' rights. Librarians recognize that most users of copyrighted material are not aware of their dependence on balanced law and policy for access to information and for gaining knowledge. Members of the public take their rights for granted and generally exercise common-sense, but do not usually get involved in policy deliberations. Librarians take seriously their role as advocates for individual users of copyrighted materials.