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Circulation - Photocopying for Reserve

Semester-to-Semester | Course Anthologies | Legal Precedents | Links to More Information

For Course Reserves Retained from Semester to Semester

From the American Library Association:
Uses of Photocopied Material Requiring Permission:
Repetitive copying: The classroom or reserve use of photocopied materials in multiple courses or successive years will normally require advance permission from the owner of the copyright.
"Model Policy Concerning College and University Photocopying and Library Use." 1982. (Published in College & Research Libraries News. April 1982. p.130.)

"...university educators should utilize their fair-use rights to make the necessary copies for their students, but they should not include the same article each semester without permission."
The Copyright Primer for Librarians and Educators, 3rd edition. 1995. (Published jointly with the National Education Association). p.121. 1995. Bruwelheide. Janis H.

In assessing Fair Use under terms of spontaneity:
"The spontaneity question is more serious since it mandates that the individual teacher should, given the time, request the copyright approval from the copyright holder if multiple copying is required."
Martell, Charles. "Copyright Law and Reserve Operations--an Interpretation." College & Research Libraries. V.39 no.1 (January 1978). p. 1-6.

From the Association of American Publishers, Inc. and the Authors League of America, Inc.:
Q: Is the photocopying of books, periodicals and other materials for placement on course reserve in academic libraries permitted under the Guidelines for Classroom Copying?
A: Only if the copying complies with the limitations of the classroom guidelines including the tests of brevity, spontaneity and cumulative effect and only if copies are not returned to the Library for re-use.

Q: Is it permissible to make a photocopy from an article if the first copy was legally prepared or obtained?
A: Permission or payment would usually be required for such additional copying.
Photocopying by Academic, Public and Non-Profit Research Libraries. 1978.

Photocopying to Create Course Anthologies

Q: If a University professor finds no text book to adequately serve course objectives, may the professor photocopy a variety of articles to substitute for the lack of a suitable text?
A: In this instance, the photocopying seems to create an anthology. The permission of the copyright owners is probably required.
Photocopying by Academic, Public and Non-Profit Research Libraries. 1978. p.17.

From the American Library Association:
Creation of a collective work or anthology by photocopying a number of copyrighted articles and excerpts to be purchased and used together as the basic text for a course will in most instances require the permission of the copyright owners. Such photocopying is more likely to be considered as a substitute for purchase of a book and thus less likely to be deemed fair use.
"Model Policy Concerning College and University Photocopying and Library Use." 1982. (Published in College & Research Libraries, April 1982. p.130.)

Legal Precedents

The conflict between the Agreement on Guidelines (see above) and college teaching practices culminated in the New York University (NYU) case in 1982. The plaintiffs (nine publishers) charged that NYU professors collaborated with a commercial copy shop to reproduce books of assigned readings for NYU classes. Several of these books were copyrighted and reproduced without permission. NYU, the professors and the copy shop settled out of court. The settlement requires NYU to enforce the minimum level of copying identified in the Agreement on Guidelines. Colleges and universities throughout the country responded to the settlement by implementing copyright policies similar to those required at NYU (Bowker Annual. 1983. p.46)

More recently, in 1989, eight publishers sued Kinkos, a national chain of photocopying stores, for violating copyright laws by producing anthologies of photocopied excerpts of books and journal articles for three professors at Columbia University. U.S. District Judge Baker Motley ruled in favor of the publishers and imposed a $510,000 fine against Kinkos for "usurping" the publishing right of the plaintiffs.

Links to More Information

Stanford University has created a World Wide Web site containing a wide range of information about copyright and fair use, including statutes, regulations, current legislation, an overview of copyright law and additional Internet resources. Other excellent sources are listed below, in no particular order..

  1. UT System Crash Course in Copyright; http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
    A tutorial on copyright written in plain English.

  2. CONFU Fair-Use Guidelines for Electronic Reserve Systems; http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/rsrvguid.htm
    Full-text document of the proposed guidelines.

  3. U.S. Copyright Office; http://www.copyright.gov/

  4. Copyright Clearance Center Online; http://www.copyright.com

  5. Copyright Essentials; http://copyright.iupui.edu/index.htm
    From the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University-Purdue University.

  6. Copyright Management Center at IUPUI; http://www.iupui.edu/~copyinfo/home.html
    A comprehensive clearing house of copyright information copyright circulars, official Copyright Office publications and much more.

 

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