Copyright Guidelines

 

V.  Library Reproduction

 

C.  Patron Requests and Interlibrary Loans

Section 108(d) of the copyright law allows the library to make one copy of a single article from a collection or a smaller part of a larger work at the request of a patron under the following conditions:

 

• The work must be in the collection of the library (or another library)
  
• The copy must become the property of the requesting patron, and can't be added to the library's collection
  
• The library must have no notice that the copy will be used for anything other than research purposes and
  
• The library must display a copyright warning where requests are made, and attach the same warning to copy order forms.  

Libraries may also make single copies of entire works, or large portions thereof, at the request of a patron under the four conditions above, with the additional following condition:

• The library must first consult the copyright owner and standard trade sources to determine if a used or unused copy cannot be purchased at a fair price.

No systematic reproduction

Section 108(g) places further limits upon the ability of the library to make copies for patrons. Systematic reproduction of works is forbidden. For more on this topic, see pages 28-29 of the source listed below.

 

Exception for  newscasts

Section 108 (f)(3) permits libraries to copy and distribute by lending a limited number of copies and excerpts of audiovisual news programs. See the summary of §108(a) for general conditions that apply.  

 

Exceptions for orphan works
Since the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) lengthened copyright protection by 20 years*, Congress enacted §108(h) to allow libraries or archives to make special exceptions for works in their last 20 years of copyright protection. The purpose was to deal with concerns that a number of older works would not be part of the public domain. Certain conditions apply under copying under §108(h).

 

• The work cannot be currently subject to normal commercial exploitation
  
• A new or used copy is not available at a reasonable price and
  
• The rights holder has not notified the Copyright Office that the work is subject to normal commercial exploitation or is available at a reasonable price. (No rights holder has ever filed a notice under this provision.)

Library Copying and Interlibrary Loan
§108g provides the following with respect to copying for the purpose of interlibrary loans:

 

....nothing in this clause prevents a library or archives from participating in interlibrary arrangements that do not have, as their purpose or effect, that the library or archives receiving such copies or phonorecords for distribution does so in such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription to or purchase of such work.

 

A supplement to the above provision is The CONTU Guidelines on Photocopying Under Interlibrary Loan Arrangements⁴ . These guidelines do not have the force of law, but they are widely considered by the educational community to be reasonable guidelines. The CONTU guidelines cap the amount of photocopying that the interlibrary loan office can request for the university community in any calendar year.  The CONTU guidelines permit a borrowing library to receive in a calendar year five articles from the most recent five years of a specific journal or other periodical (the "rule of five").  Section 108(g)(2) of the copyright law and the CONTU guidelines place responsibility for compliance on the requesting library.

 

For requests of books, journals and journal articles, or a small part of another work, the following rules apply:

• the library must display the "Warning of Copyright" and include the text on the order form;

• the copy must become the property of the patron;

• the library must have no notice that the copy will be used for a purpose other than private study, scholarship or research;

• the library must not be aware of or have substantial reason to believe it is engaging in related or concerted reproduction of multiple copies of the same material; and

• the library must make its request with a representation that is has complied with copyright law.

 

When the request is for an entire book, or an entire journal issue, the requesting library must determine that a copy cannot be obtained at a fair price.   When requesting journals, articles from journals, and small portions of a copyrighted work when the request is for the same work, the library must certify that is it complying with the CONTU rule of five.  Note that the rule of five does not apply to journals or articles from journals that are over five years old.  The library must maintain its records of the request for three years.  If the requesting library has in force an order for a subscription to the journal or an order for a book or sound recording, then the request need not count as one of the five allowed, but the library may treat the request as being filled by its own library.

 

Individuals requesting copies in excess of the CONTU allowance may be asked to pay a royalty or the fee necessary to obtain such copies commercially.   Until such time as new guidelines may be adopted for the digital environment, these guidelines will apply to interlibrary loan of digital documents as well as paper documents.

__________________________
⁴ Contained in the Report of the Conference committee on the New Copyright Law (H.R. No. 1733, 94^th   Cong., 2d Sess., at 71-73) reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5812-14.

 

 

Source (excluding text on CONTU): Overview of the Libraries and Archives Exception in the Copyright Act: Background, History, and Meaning Authors: Mary Rasenberger and Chris Weston, April 2005

 

*  This legislation lengthens copyrights for works created on or after January 1, 1978 (the effective date of the 1976 copyright legislation) to "life of the author plus 70 years," and extends copyrights for corporate, anonymous or pseudonymous works to 95 years from the year of first publication, or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first. 




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