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Since the fall, the Z. Smith Reynolds Library has assumed responsibility for copyright compliance for faculty using electronic Course Reserves. Prior to this development, faculty were expected to clear copyright themselves, which burdened faculty and resulted in uneven compliance.

Because copyright law is difficult to interpret, the Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) guidelines were developed to provide a framework that balances the use of the work for educational purposes with the economic impact on the part of the copyright holder.

In keeping with CONFU guidelines:

  • The first time a faculty member requests a book chapter or article for Course Reserves, we claim “fair use” and do not request copyright clearance.
  • No more than one chapter per book or one article per journal issue can be utilized for a single class purpose. In any case, no more than 10 percent of a work will be scanned and put on electronic reserve.
  • Each subsequent use of that same book chapter or article by that faculty member will require copyright clearance from the rights holder. More…

If a faculty member requests the copyrighted material for a second semester, the library will contact the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to try to obtain copyright clearance. If the CCC has obtained permission to manage copyright by the copyright holder, they will provide us with a price that is determined by the content of the material, size of the class, and the number of pages used. If the CCC does not have permission to manage copyright for any title, they will refer us to the copyright owner. We would then begin the process of determining who actually owns copyright, and what they might charge.

The library will automatically pay copyright clearance fees less than $60. If the cost is more than $60, the library will contact the faculty member to request a decision about the copyright payment and the ultimate fate of the electronic document. The options are:

  1. The library can place the paper copy of the work on reserve and remove the electronic copy.
  2. The faculty member can fund the copyright fees through their department, and the electronic copy can remain active.
  3. The faculty member can decide not to use the item in the course.

In spring 2009 we sought copyright clearance on 118 documents from 103 sources. Thirteen different faculty teaching unique 16 courses were impacted. Among these 103 sources:

  • Copyright paid by library: 41 documents ($1080)
  • Copyright paid by departments: two documents ($174)
  • Copyright denied: 10 documents
  • Copyright granted for free: five documents
  • No response from copyright owner: nine documents
  • Found on Google Book Search: one document
  • Found full text on other web sites: five documents
  • Taken down due to excessive cost: 30 documents (Print books may have been used as alternative)