RE: Backfile of photocopied articles

From: Caroline Geer <geerc[_at_]letu.edu>
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 08:15:59 -0500


Dear Gary,

I have just gone through such a discussion with our faculty. As I understand "Fair Use" in an academic setting-and I will be eager to read any comments from the copyright attorneys on this issue-the articles that are used in the Reserve Room may only remain for the duration of the course [usually a semester or quarter]. After that time, they must be destroyed. The same article from that journal may not be used again for that course unless permission has first been obtained from the copyright holder [often the publisher]. We have just recently removed all old copies that professors had used for years for their courses-all carefully catalogued and labeled! As I understand it, only one copy may be on Reserve even if it will be used by 2 different classes. Of course, multiple copies of the book or journal the chapter or article is from may be on Reserve with no copy provided by the Library in the Reserve Room. Also, the copy cannot be the
"bulk" or the "heart" of the publication, so generally a chapter out of a
book or an article out of a magazine would be acceptable for a one-time use. And only one copy may be made of the article that is kept on Reserve. If students want to make a copy of that article for their own use, then they must make it as they read the "Notice of Copyright" posted at the copy machine.

There are certainly some fine points I am still fuzzy about-such as the Copyright Clearance Center and what role it plays in these Reserve copies-so I hope someone more knowledgeable will jump in to answer. I know there was an excellent discussion of Fair Use over the summer and some excellent URLs that were mentioned at that time. Here are a few I've collected and found helpful:

	http://www.cetus.org/fairindex.html#Contents  [Fair Use in Education]
	http://www.nmjc.cc.nm.us/copyrightbay/    [this one includes an excellent

"webliography" of other sites]
http://www.benedict.com/ [the Copyright Website] http://www.templetons.com/brad//copymyths.html [10 Big Myths About Copyright] http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/copyright/ [Copyright Information Page] http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/Copyright/ereserves.htm [for music educators] http://www.iupui.edu/~copyinfo/home.html [Copyright Management
Center-Indiana University-Purdue University]

Hope this helps!

Caroline Geer, MA MLIS phone: 903.233.3271 Coordinator of Information Resources
Margaret Estes Library
LeTourneau University
2100 S. Mobberly Ave., POB 7001
Longview, TX 75607-7001

URL: www.letu.edu/departments/library




"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many
portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the orld." -- Hebrews 1:1

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org [mailto:owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org]On Behalf Of Atwood, Gary
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 8:30 AM To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Backfile of photocopied articles Dear Members of the List:

I have a question that I'm fairly sure that I know the answer to, but I still would like to hear some of your opinions. First, a little background. We have two file cabinets full of photocopied articles that the professors here put on reserve for their classes. The file cabinets sit out in a public area where anyone can have access to them, although they are seldom used by the general public. It's my understanding that the rationale for storing these articles was that the professors usually come in a request that the same articles be put on reserve each year when they teach the class so why not save ourselves a lot of extra work by just filing the articles and reusing them? While I agree with the idea and have gone along with the system as it stands, I don't think that this is the proper thing to do from a copyright standpoint. My question is: is it acceptable to archive these articles in the manner that we have been doing or do we have to dispose of them once class is over and the reserve shelves are taken down? While I have been here, any new articles that have been put on reserve have either come from journals that we subscribe to or professors who I assume have gotten them properly. I cannot say the same for the articles collected in the years before I arrived. I don't know if it makes any difference or not, but I thought I would mention it.

As I said in the beginning, I'm fairly sure that we are not supposed to be operating in this manner, but I'm in a position now to make a change to this policy and I'd like to put us back on the right track if at all possible. Thanks in advance for the advice.



Gary S. Atwood
Assistant Librarian
Bangor Theological Seminary
300 Union Street
Bangor, Maine 04401
e-mail: gatwood[_at_]bts.edu
tel: (207) 942-6781 x123
Received on Tue Oct 03 2000 - 13:18:14 GMT

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