Legal Solutions in Electronic Reserves and the Electronic Delivery of Interlibrary Loan

Legal Solutions in Electronic Reserves and the Electronic Delivery of Interlibrary Loan

by Janet Brennan Croft

Haworth Press, 2004; published simultaneously as a monograph and as v.14 #3 of Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve. To order direct from Haworth, click here. To order from Amazon, click here.

If your institution subscribes to Haworth Publications, you may be able to read the electronic version here.

What legal issues arise because of the differences between physical and electronic reserves, and between the physical and electronic delivery of interlibrary loan? This book is designed to guide the practitioner through the process of developing legal policies for electronic reserves and electronic ILL delivery. I begin with an overview of copyright and confidentiality laws, with copyright the primary focus; I then examine the philosophy and regulations behind the guidelines for these popular library services; and finally I suggest questions to be addressed in library policies. This book emphasizes that librarians should make every effort to defend their patrons' rights and exceptions, and to negotiate favorable contracts for electronic resources. Included are the texts of the most important laws and guidelines, a list of important cases, information on pending legislation, and a bibliography of useful print and internet resources for the practitioner. (Please note the author is not a lawyer, and you should always consult your institution's own lawyer if you have legal questions.)

Topics covered:

Copyright review: What laws govern copyright for librarians and educators? What are the copyright holder's rights? What are the penalties for infringement?
Confidentiality basics: Why is confidentiality important? What are our patrons' rights, especially under the USA PATRIOT Act?
Focus on electronic reserves: How do they differ from physical reserves? What are the legal implications? What guidelines should we follow?
Electronic delivery of interlibrary loan materials: How does it differ from physical delivery? What does it mean, legally? What rules apply?

REVIEWS:

“IMPORTANT READING. . . . A handy reference guide to basic principles, key concerns, and emerging developments—including hot topics like privacy and confidentiality.”

Jeff Rosedale, MLS, Assistant Library Director, Manhattanville College Library

“This is A TIMELY TEXT that will help new practitioners and any manager hard-pressed to keep up with legislative changes. While geared to academic libraries, the legislative review, pertinent legal content, and tips and tools covered in this informative text will also be helpful to public and special librarians. Publishers worried about open access to their copyrighted material would do well to read it as well, as it should reassure them about current library practices in ILL and Reserves. It is great to see a book that treats these topics in an integrated fashion as the issues covered can impact both ILL and Reserves.”

Lynn Wiley, MSLS, Head, Information Resource and Retrieval Center, and Associate Professor of Library Administration, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

"Librarians in charge of electronic reserves and interlibrary loan need to be well-versed in copyright law... Croft explores the topic in Legal Solutions."

Cathleen Bourdon, in "Librarian's Library", American Libraries, January 2005.

"...a USEFUL ADDITION to the shelves of academic libraries ... a basic primer for capturing the essence of the increasingly complex and rapidly changing technological and legal landscape of electronic reserves and electronic delivery."

Logan Ludwig, in The Leading Edge, newsletter of the Leadership and Management Section of the Medical Library Association, April 2005

" ...excellent summaries...a QUICK PRIMER for those concerned with copyright and electronic information in libraries...succinct overview of the issues..."

Gwen Gregory, "The New Set of Electronic Rules," Information Today, March 2005.

"...comprehensive explanation of copyright law ... the bibliography is a goldmine ... an indispensable reference tool."

Emily "Kathy" Coughlin, in Community and Junior College Libraries, 13.1 (2004)

Useful links:

NEW MATERIALS (NOT IN BOOK)

ARL Report on Electronic Reserves and Fair Use: http://www.arl.org/newsltr/232/ereserves.html

This statement, released February 2004, was reviewed and endorsed by the ARL Intellectual Property and Copyright Committee, the American Library Association, the Association of American Law Libraries, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association.

University of Minnesota copyright decision-making tree: http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/map.phtml

A useful template for making decisions about when to seek permission. A great template for showing faculty how you have to analyze their requests.

A guide to copyright issues related to email posts and other such hosted forums on the Web, by Thomas G. Field.

The Campus Guide to Copyright Compliance: http://www.copyrightoncampus.com/

A guide from the Copyright Clearing House. May urge a bit more caution than most libraries find necessary in practice, but following this guide should keep one well within the law.

The Public Domain:

When Works Pass Into the Public Domain: http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

Laura Gasaway’s detailed chart helps you navigate the muddy waters of copyright expiration. It has been updated to show the effects of the “Sonny Bono Act” on copyright terms.

Sources of electronic out-of-copyright material:

There are many sources online for public-domain e-books and shorter works, both fiction and non-fiction. In some cases a link to one of these resources could satisfy an electronic reserve or interlibrary loan request with no need to be concerned about fair use – providing a link to publicly available material is not a violation of copyright law. Many sites even have very obscure or foreign language resources. A caveat: Project Gutenberg of Australia is subject to a different schedule of copyright expiration. Items which may be legal to display on their site may not be legal to display on a US site. The difficulty of disentangling jurisdiction may protect you, but the safest thing to do is run them through Gasaway’s public domain chart before linking.

Blackmask Online: http://www.blackmask.com/page.php

A well-arranged site including nearly 13,000 titles; fiction, non-fiction, European languages, Oriental languages in translation, children’s books.

The Online Book Page: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

University of Pennsylvania’s listing of over 20,000 free books on the web, English-language only.

Project Gutenberg: http://promo.net/pg/

Over 6000 free e-texts.

University of Virginia’s EText Center: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

Over 1800 books. Includes African-American, Native American, and Civil War collections.

Bartleby.com: http://www.bartleby.com/

Reference, verse, fiction, nonfiction.

eBooks@Adelaide: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/

The University of Adelaide’s collection of over 500 texts.

Project Gutenberg Australia: http://promo.net/pg/pgau.html

Note their disclaimer: works by authors who died before 1951 are in the public domain in Australia, but not in the United States or many other countries.

The Latin Library: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/

Books in Latin

Christian Classics Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/

Multi-denominational; fiction, nonfiction, apologetics, translations.

An Online Library of Literature: http://www.literature.org

A small selection of classic authors.

Perseus Digital Library: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

Primarily classical and English renaissance texts, but also some American and other history.

International Children’s Digital Library: http://www.icdlbooks.org/

Alex Catalog of Electronic Texts: http://www.infomotions.com/alex/

English and American literature, philosophy.

Victorian Women Writers Project: http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/

Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/index.cfm

American Verse Project: http://www.hti.umich.edu/a/amverse/

19^th Century Women’s Poetry: http://www.unl.edu/legacy/19cwww/books/elibe/poetry.htm#list

Sources of Permissions:

The major source for permissions for print materials.

Search records back to 1978 for copyrighted material in a number of categories. Also see http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.html for instructions on how to search a copyright.

Music Publisher’s Association: http://www.mpa.org/copyright/searchenter.html

This site can help you find the publisher for a piece of music; it searches the archives of the three major music rights suppliers (ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC) at once.

Getting Permission: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/permissn.htm

The ever-helpful UT site on copyright includes an extensive list of permission sources, including sources for materials other than print and music. Try this if it isn’t available through the sources listed above.

Copyright Resources on the web:

United States Copyright Office: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

An excellent source of authoritative information all in one place. Includes text of all relevant laws, information about pending legislation, how to register items for copyright, and much more.

Legal Information Institute: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/

Includes not just the text of the US Code on Copyrights, but also notes, updates, and other references.

Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis; Kenneth Crews’ guide to copyright for educators.

Coalition for Networked Information: http://www.cni.org

Especially useful is a collection of American Library Association policies at http://www.cni.org/docs/infopols/ALA.html, including copyright, ILL, confidentiality, and freedom to read.

Stanford University Libraries Copyright and Fair Use page: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/index.html

A wealth of useful information, including a list of copyright cases relevant to libraries.

Georgia Harper’s University of Texas page.

Library Law: http://www.librarylaw.com/index.html

Mary Minow’s wide-ranging site on all aspects of library law.

Reserves Resources:

Electronic Reserves Clearinghouse: http://www.mville.edu/administration/Staff/Jeff_Rosedale/

An extensive and up-to-date list of links on many aspects of electronic reserves. Includes links to sample policies.

Georgia Harper’s overview of copyright and electronic reserves is an excellent resource for librarians and faculty alike.

ReserveWeb Links: http://reserveweb.bard.edu/links.htm

A nice list of links from Bard College.

Music Library Association Guidelines: http://www.lib.jmu.edu/org/mla/Guidelines/

Includes guidelines for both electronic and physical reserves for music.

Interlibrary Loan Resources:

ILLWeb Codes and Guidelines: http://www.illweb.org/codes.htm

Links to all the relevant guidelines in one place.

IFLANET Interlibrary loan links: http://www.ifla.org/II/ill.htm

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/l-108g.htm

Georgia Harper’s UT site.

List-servs and Discussion Groups:

Liblicense: http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/

Licensing issues, including negotiating contracts.

Association of Research Libraries Electronic Reserves Discussion List:

arl-ereserve@arl.org

Send an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Docutek E-Res Users Group: ereserves@docutek.com

A good source of information on e-reserves, even if you do not use E-Res. Send an email with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

CNI Copyright Forum: http://www.cni.org/Hforums/cni-copyright/

Specifically devoted to copyright issues.

ILL-L: listproc@northwestern.edu

A very active international ILL discussion list. Send message saying “subscribe ILL-L firstname lastname”.

ARIE-L: listserv@listserv.idbsu.edu

For discussion of the ARIEL ILL electronic document delivery system

Updated 3/28/2006 Janet B. Croft

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