The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Fair Use
Please apply these four factors when preparing an item for Reserve/EReserve:
- Purpose: Fair use is more likely to apply when a work is used for a nonprofit, educational purpose such as teaching, research, scholarships, criticism, or comment. The use must also be transformative or have a productive use. In other words, the work is used to be commented on, criticized, remade as a parody, or repurposed so that the main idea behind it can be more easily identified. In addition, the work must have some type of restricted access so that only a specific group of people, such as students, are able to access it.
- Nature: In order for a work to fully favor fair use, it must be a published work that is factual, or nonfiction, and be important to the course objectives. Consumable works, such as standardized tests and workbooks, will never qualify for fair use.
- Amount: In order for a work to fully favor fair use, it must be a small quantity of the work that is no more than necessary for its educational purpose, and the portion may not be the central part, or “heart,” of the work, which would weigh against fair use.
- Effect: The effect of the work refers to the effect the use of the work will have on the potential market. In other words, will the use of the work cause an economic loss for the copyright holder? In order for a work to fully favor fair use, it must have been lawfully acquired, have no significant effect on the potential market, be no longer in print, have no similar product on the market by the same copyright holder, and there can be only one or few copies made of the work. Likewise, the work may not be used repeatedly or for long-term circumstances, be made publicly available on the Internet, have a reasonably available licensing mechanism to get permission for the work, or have potential to replace the sale of the copyrighted work.
Limit EReserve To
- One chapter from a book (cannot exceed 10 percent of the book)
- One article from any given journal issue
- An article from a newspaper
- Supplemental: small part of materials required for the course (not to take place of a course packet)
- In order for a coursepack to be put on Traditional Reserve, we must receive proof that permssion was obtained by your coursepack provider. Permission must also reflect the semester(s) the item is to be on reserve.
- Original materials must be owned by the library, faculty member, or department.
- PALCI books, ILL books, or books from any other institution cannot be used for Reserve/EReserve.
Include on EReserve Forms
Full citations when submitting forms
Limited Access
Items will be password protected for students enrolled in the specific class. Access will be terminated at the end of the designated class term.
Things to Know Under These Guidelines:
- Under fair use, an item can be used only one semester; then it is no longer fair to use and permission from the publisher needs to be obtained to continue usage.
- The same article or chapter cannot be used for multiple courses taught by the same professor, unless permission is obtained.
- The Internet is not the public domain. There are both copyrighted and uncopyrighted materials available. Assume a work is copyrighted. (Links to the appropriate URLs will be used in this case)
- The same copyright protections exist for the author of a work, regardless of whether the work is in a database, CD-ROM, or on the Internet.
- Works of the United States Government are not copyrightable, but works created by state or local governments may be protected.
Permission
If permission is granted for usage of an item, we will need a copy of the letter or e-mail for our files. The usage time frame will be followed as per the publisher’s determination.
In order to make our EReserve processing as efficient as possible and to provide the best quality material for the students, we ask that faculty members follow three rules of thumb when making copies to be scanned:
- Submit first-generation 8½ x 11 copies.
- Limit underlining and highlighting (yellow is the only color that is scannable).
- Keep pictures to a minimum along with print with gray shading in the background.
Remember, the original must have been purchased by you, the library, or your department.
Copies are always returned to your departmental secretary after scanning.
Copyright law applies to materials found on the Internet.
Fair use guidelines are applied to materials in traditional reserve just as they are in electronic reserve.
If the Reserve/EReserve staff feels that an item does not meet fair use requirements, you will be contacted regarding that item.
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