Re: Course packets question

> Ted Labuza:
> >
> > Suppose a professor because of too many committee responsibilities etc
> > cannot get the course material ready on time and the university copy
> > center is so swamped that they have a month backlog taking care of
> > other classes.
> > [snip]
> > This way students have all the material
> > at the first class, there is no argument that they couldnt get to copy
> > it etc etc. I recognize the law but what about education, efficiencies,
> > energy use etc, isnt here a more important issue here.
>
> Inefficient here means "costly," I think, doesn't it? If so, then
> perhaps "high cost of copying" is an appropriate and important
> deterrent to "too much" copying.
>
> Or to put it another way, if one can save time and money in the way
> you suggest, then might not copyright owners go to Congress and argue
> for a narrower wording for fair use? They would say, that is, "Look,
> we can no longer tolerate students' making individual copies because
> it leads directly to the argument that a single secretary (or copy
> center) can make the copies for them. And that's just too much like a
> publisher stealing our market."
>
> Wouldn't that be a persuasive argument to Congress?
>
>
> Trotter Hardy
> <thardy[_at_]facstaff.wm.edu>
>
> Trotter Hardy / William & Mary / (804) 221-3826

Maybe the publishers should face the future, get off the mark, and make "print on demand" books or online books for access chapter by chapter. That would meet the needs of busy professors and students. No sense in facing firmly toward the past and bemoaning the fact that the old market is going down the tubes. When the economy moves, get out of the way!

Susan Harris
Sonoma State University
Library Director
<susan.harris[_at_]sonoma.edu> Received on Thu Apr 11 1996 - 18:23:51 GMT