Practices for Electronic Reserves

Library practices for electronic reserve reading services are derived from the fair use provisions of the United States Copyright Act of 1976.  Under the guidelines listed below, Section 107 of the Copyright Act expressly permits the making of multiple copies for classroom use. The Association of Research Libraries Bimonthly Report 232, February 2004, "Applying Fair Use in the Development of Electronic Reserves Systems," served as a model for portions of these guidelines.

The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Library purchases collections for the nonprofit educational use of students and faculty. All library materials are acquired with the understanding that there will be multiple uses of a limited number of copies. The Library pays premium institutional prices for many print journal subscriptions and electronic journal license agreements--prices which are many times higher than individual subscription prices--in order to support multiple academic uses.  The sole purpose of the electronic reserve service is to facilitate the making of multiple copies for classroom use by students. Considered within this context, electronic reserve services were developed by the Libraries in a manner that conforms to the fair use provisions of Section 107 of the copyright law act. Those provisions are repeated here:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106a, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include--

  1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
    • The UIUC Library has implemented our e-reserve system in support of non-profit education.
    • Placement of materials on electronic reserve is at the initiative of faculty solely for non-commercial, educational purposes.
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
    • The e-reserve system includes multiple formats, both factual and creative. The UIUC Library takes the character of the materials into consideration in the overall assessment.
  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
    • The UIUC Library considers the relationship of the amount used to the whole of the copyright owner's work.
    • Because the amount that a faculty member assigns depends on many factors, such as relevance to the teaching objective and the overall amount of material assigned, the UIUC Library may also consider whether the amount, even the entire work, in some cases, is appropriate to support the lesson or make a point.
  4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
    • Materials on electronic reserve are limited to the users of the uiuc.edu domain. Other measures may be introduced to assure that only authorized users have access to the reserve materials for that course.
    • Material in the electronic reserves system will only be accessible by course number (e.g. LIS390) or instructor name in the online catalog and the electronic reserves services web pages.
    • Whenever possible, if the Library does not already own or have licensed access to the material, it will purchase materials at a reasonable price to be copied or scanned for electronic reserves.

Additional Procedures:

  1. Copyright notices appear on screen in the online reserve system to indicate that copyright law may cover materials.
  2. There are no charges for access. The charge for copies made by students will be limited to the nominal cost of laser printing.
  3. Electronic files are no longer accessible from the reserve system at the end of each semester.
 

The Library follows the principles of Fair Use of copyrighted materials when placing materials on reserve, including the re-use of articles or book chapters from the UIUC collections or the use of materials obtained elsewhere. When in doubt about the applicability of the Fair Use standard, the Library will seek permission from the copyright holder. Materials will be placed on reserve pending the receipt of permission.

Digitizing Information for Distance Education 

Materials owned on campus may be made available electronically to those UIUC students and faculty engaged in long distance education. Documents will be password protected and available for a limited number of accesses and for a limited duration before being deleted. 

Digitizing Documents Obtained Though Interlibrary Loan 

Documents received through ILL services electronically may be converted to standard viewing format and posted to a secure Web space. Documents will be password protected and available for a limited number of accesses and for a limited duration before being deleted. 

Copyright Law and Scanners 

The Library need not enforce any special regulations on the use of scanners by library users either on or off library premises. The Copyright statement on restrictions copied below applies to any reproduction. This statement is already posted on every photocopier. It is suggested that it be posted in every library with the header "This applies to scanners too." 

Warning Concerning Copyright Restrictions 

The Copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyright material. 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 not be "used for any purposes 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. 

Document Revised August 2006