Re: Library Inter-Library Loan Service

On Fri, Jul 23, 1999, Matthew Wright <matwright[_at_]UBmail.ubalt.edu> wrote:
>
> The University of Baltimore Law Library offers an Inter Library Loan
> service to a private law firm in the Baltimore area. The ILL service
> uses scanning technology to post the requested documents on a secret
> law library web page. This prevents the need for faxing. The web
> page is not password protected but there is no link to it from the
> library's home page.
>
> This is how the service works. The law library has a private URL to
> receive the ILL requests. The URL is not linked to any page on the
> library's web page. The URL is privately given out to a particular
> local law firm. Once the library receives the ILL request, the library
> retrieves the necessary items, scans the items and posts them to the
> private URL. The law firm can then go to that web page and print out
> a scanned version of the document. The documents stay up no more than
> four days.
>
>
> We have been told that this service may be in violation of the copyright
> law. We would like to know whether subscribers think it is illegal and
> why. We are wondering why this would be any different than merely
> faxing the law firm photocopies of documents. We also wonder whether it
> is relevant that thus far, only one law firm in Baltimore knows the URL.
> The library has contemplated expanding the service by offering it to
> other firms.
>
> Any bibliographic references would be appreciated.

You may wish to view the 1997 AALL Guidelines on the Fair Use of Copyrighted Works by Law Libraries at

   http://www.aallnet.org/about/policy_fair.asp

Please keep in mind that you will need to update these Guidelines to meet the new notice standards found in last year's Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The Guidelines also cover the digital duplication and transmission of interlibrary loan materials, which does seem permissible as long as notice, fair use, and document destruction requirements are met. Number of people served, of course, may impact the amount of your institution's liability, but has no impact on whether infringement has occurred.

I also hope you expand this service to other Baltimore-area law firms. I understand you need a test bed for this type of service, but limiting service by a public institution to a particular firm also has its own risks.

I hope this helps!

Steven Anderson, JD, MA(LS)
Librarian
Gordon Feinblatt Rothman Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC 233 East Redwood Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
Phone: 410.576.4255
Fax: 410.576.4246
E-Mail: sanderson[_at_]gfrlaw.com
Web: http://www.gfrlaw.com/ Received on Tue Jul 27 1999 - 13:07:25 GMT