Re: In-house library photocopying

On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Bernard Katz <bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca> wrote:
>
> On Sun, 29 Mar 1998, Laura N. Gasaway <laura_gasaway[_at_]unc.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 27 Mar 1998, Teresa Winning <interlib[_at_]ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > I would like to elaborate on these questions as we have a similar
> > > situation here.
> > >
> > > Our HSL sends out copies of the Table of Contents for each journal the
> > > library subscribes to. Faculty circle or mark the articles they want
> > > copied and send their order in to the HSL staff. The articles are
> > > retrieved, copied and the patron is charged a fee for this service. In
> > > many cases, by sending out the table of contents, a particular article
> > > may be requested many times by different doctors at the college of
> > > medicine.
> > >
> > > Does this constitute a violation of free use?
> > >
> > > To muddy the water even further, if a libraries web page makes the table
> > > of contents for any or all of their journal titles, and also offers a
> > > document delivery service, is this considered fair use?
> >
> > There has been no litigation concerning copying and sending out or
> > routing tables of contents of journals.
> >
> > Charging for copies raises the issue of whether the library
> > qualifies for the section 108 exemptions if the copying is for direct or
> > indirect commercial advantage (section 108(a)). In my opinion, unless the
> > library makes a profit on the copying, there is no commercial advantage.
> > Cost recovery is revenue neutral to the library.
> >
> > The issue to watch is found in section 108(d). The library may
> > reproduce only one article from an issue for a user. If you want to
> > reproduce more, then you need to request permission and pay royalties if
> > requested.
>
> Hi Lolly - a follow-up question, if I may - what about the matter of
> sys- tematic copying as an issue that might deny photocopying this case?
> And is there no problem with scanning the contents pages and puting them
> on Web?

     The issue of whether using tables of contents to send to users is systematic copying has never been litigated. Some say yes and some no. It is a widely spread practice in a huge number of libraries.

     Scanning the tables of contents and putting on a webpage causes me more concern. Now the TOC is sent to a broader group instead of just a few faculty members (in fact, the whole world) Personally, I would not do this without permission from the copyright holder where I probably would photocopy the TOC.

     Clearly, this library needs to talk with its legal counsel and get some guidance.

Lolly

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Laura N. Gasaway			Phone:  919-962-1049
Director of the Law Library &
	Professor of Law		Fax:	919-962-1193
CB # 3385
University of North Carolina		e-mail: laura_gasaway[_at_]unc.edu
Chapel Hill, NC  27599
			http://www.unc.edu/~gasaway.htm