Re: copyright permission and course reserve

On 1/31/00, Robert Cumbow <rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, Leah Gadzikowski <lrgadz01[_at_]louisville.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Fair Use only applies to the first semester and after that, they
> > need to get permission.
>
> I would be interested in learning the basis for this principle. It
> seems to me it's either Fair Use or it isn't ... it can't be Fair
> Use for a little while and then suddenly become an infringement.

If you understand a little of the history of academic library reserve practices, then Leah's statement makes sense. Many library reserve rooms evolved as a substitute for classroom distribution of materials. Since specific guidelines for reserver use did not exist at that time (and still don't, since CONFU couldn't reach agreement), most institutions extrapolated from the NACS guidelines for classroom copying in establishing reserver use. These guidelines can be seen at:

   http://www.cni.org/docs/infopols/NACS.html

The way that libraries handled the 'spontaneity' issue was to limit 'fair use' to one semester. It's not a decision based on the legal concept of fair use, but the classroom copying guidelines. Many reserve policies specifically incorporate the prohibitions and the cumulative effect statement, often without any indication as to their provenance.

My question to this group would be: how much respect is a court likely to accord the 'standards and practices' of the industry in determining the liability of a specific academic institution? Most reserve librarians would admit that they don't really understand copyright issues. So they take refuge in doing what everybody else is doing. Is that likely to be any kind of reasonable defense?

Laureen C. Urquiaga
Access Services/Copyright Librarian
Howard W. Hunter Law Library
<urquiagal[_at_]lawgate.byu.edu> Received on Tue Feb 01 2000 - 21:00:32 GMT