Copyright / Reserves Policy and Procedures Statement

Contents:

Statement Of Guiding Principles
Statement of Policy
When Is Copyright Permission Not Necessary?
Procedures for securing copyright permission
Royalty Payments
Related Issues

Statement Of Guiding Principles

The Library seeks to encourage Fair Use of copyrighted materials, balancing the research needs of faculty, students, staff, and other patrons, while respecting the intellectual property rights of copyright holders and abiding by the pertinent laws governing usage of copyrighted materials.

Statement of Policy

OUR POLICY:
THE TRINITY UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WILL ABIDE BY U.S. COPYRIGHT LAW

Copyright addresses the right to make copies.  The creator of a work usually gives that authority to his or her publisher, allowing for the work to be published in the first place.  It is when that published work (an authorized original copy) is reproduced by the consumer that issues of copyright are introduced.

There may be restrictions imposed upon using "non-original" items as reserves.

The applicable laws, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 107 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, provide for a "Fair Use" defense of the reproduction of copyrighted material for research purposes.  The Library will place reproductions of copyrighted material on reserve based on the instructor’s assertion that the usage falls under “Fair Use” requirements in copyright law. The University will support and defend the faculty member’s interpretation to that effect, where legally defensible.  Copyrighted material reproduced and placed on Blackboard or in course packs is not covered by this policy.  “Legally defensible” assumes, for example, that said reproductions do not constitute an excessive portion of the original work, nor are they excerpts from works explicitly commercial in nature (e.g., textbooks, workbooks, popular films/magazines, etc.).  Circulation staff may refuse to place on reserve any material when doing so obviously fails to meet the Fair Use criteria. Copyright permissions purchases are available upon request through the Circulation department.
 

At present, a "four factors" test is used to determine if a proposed use is fair or not.  These factors are:

1. Purpose of the usage -- Academic uses (criticism, commentary, etc.) are easier to defend as 'fair' than commercial uses.

2. Nature of the copyrighted work -- Nonfiction, fact-based works (information) are more understandably used fairly than creative fiction (entertainment).

3. Amount and content of the portion of the work used -- An academic work could conceivably use large portions of a work for critical or analytical purposes.  But there comes a point when too much of the original work has been copied, at which time the use is no longer 'fair.'

4. Impact on the market value of the work -- Would the proposed usage damage the market value of the copyrighted item?  Does the proposed usage compete with sales of the work?  Is the proposed usage simply a way to avoid buying the book or journal?

An important note about factor #1:  The use of the material for academic purposes is not by itself a sufficient justification of "fair use."  The four factors interact with each other and must be considered together; no single one of them "trumps" the other three.  However, recent court decisions have tended to give more weight to factor #4.

Faculty are reminded that copyright protections have expanded greatly in both scope and duration in recent years, as have statutory and punitive penalties for non-compliance.  The Library will assist any instructor seeking guidance about copyright issues.

When is it not necessary to secure copyright permission?

1. If the item in question is an original, authorized copy, purchased from the rightsholder, distributor, or other consumer.

2. If the faculty member can demonstrate that the material is in the public domain, or that the faculty member is the copyright holder.

3. If the proposed usage of the item can be considered "fair use" in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act and its amendments.

Procedures for securing copyright permission

If the library determines that a document may not be used without having first secured copyright permission, how is such permission obtained?

Faculty members are welcome to secure copyright permissions for prospective reserves materials themselves.  Faculty members who have done so should provide the pertinent documentation with their reserve submissions.

The library will assist faculty members to obtain copyright permissions for an item placed on reserve but they should be aware that the library's budget for copyright fee payments is limited.

1. Reserve items that are submitted with proof of copyright compliance will be placed on reserve as quickly as possible.

2. Materials that are submitted without proof of copyright compliance will not be placed on reserve immediately.  A processing period of two weeks is required to obtain copyright permission, if necessary.  Faculty are reminded to take this two-week delay into account when submitting reserves. 

In order to expedite the copyright permissions process, all instructors submitting materials for reserves should provide complete bibliographic citations for all items, to include the items' ISBN or ISSN numbers, if possible.

Royalty Payments

Obtaining copyright permission usually entails the payment of a royalty fee.  The Library has a small budget for royalty payments, which is allocated on a "first-come, first-serve" basis.  As a result, instructors are strongly encouraged to submit reserve lists as far in advance as possible to ensure the availability of funds to purchase required permissions.

Once the Library's permissions budget is exhausted, permissions purchases may still be made, provided the associated academic departments assume all costs for such purchases.

Related Issues

How else does copyright law pertain to reserves?

Copyright Notice:  US copyright law requires copies made for reserve and ILL use to be marked to indicate that the original material may be copyrighted.  The proprietary electronic reserves system the library has adopted has a built-in copyright notice to satisfy this requirement.  Traditional reserve items will be stamped to satisfy this requirement.

Password Protection:  Copyright laws require copyrighted materials on electronic reserves to be password protected to prevent unauthorized access to the material.  The proprietary e-res system used by the library provides for protecting documents this way.

All instructor are required to list a password for each of their classes.

Instructors are responsible for providing password information to their students!

Library staff will not be privy to this information, so they will not be able to assist students in this regard.  Instructors are cautioned to be discreet when disseminating their passwords.

Any questions, comments, or suggestions should be directed to Mary González, the Library's Copyrights and Reserves Manager, ext. 8189; or Jason Hardin, Manager of (Library) Access Services, ext. 8181.