The policy for all reserves, including electronic and media materials, is based on the provisions of fair use in the United States Copyright Act of 1976. Section 107 of the Copyright Act that permits multiple copies for classroom use.
1. Each item on reserve under copyright protection will be evaluated using the 4 fair use factors. . The fair use factors are:
- purpose,
- nature of the work,
- amount used
- effect upon the market.
2. Guidelines for some common situations have been developed by groups of interested private parties. These guidelines are not the law, but rather attempts to clarify the meaning of fair use based on the endorsers’ consensus on certain conditions under which fair use generally applies. Guidelines are expressed as minimum applications of fair use. Uses that fall within or exceed such guidelines may or may not be fair use, subject to the analysis of the four factors.
3. The law of fair use applies more narrowly to highly creative works; accordingly, the library may choose not to accept for Reserve substantial excerpts from:
- novels,
- short stories,
- poetry,
- modern art images,
- other such materials.
4. Items that do not meet a reasonable number of fair use factors or which do not have copyright permission from the owner will be withdrawn or refused for Reserve.
5. Reserve should not include any material unless the instructor, the library, or another unit of the educational institution possesses a lawfully obtained copy. The Library will make reasonable efforts to purchase any materials required for teaching needs.
6. Students should not be charged specifically or directly for access to materials placed on Reserve, and no person or unit at the university should benefit monetarily from the use of the material.
7. Content should be restricted to only the amount of an item necessary for class. The less used, the more likely it is fair use. Only those portions of the work relevant to the educational objectives of the course should be placed on Reserve.
8. Audiovisual materials fall under both fair use and the TEACH Act. Along with other various provisions, the TEACH Act only allows 'reasonable and limited portions" of audiovisual works to be performed in an online environment. The library attempts to purchase distribution rights with media materials and often licensing terms will supersede legal rights. All media requests will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
9. Items under copyright protection may be left on reserve only as long as necessary to meet the needs of the class. At the end of each semester, all material on reserve will be removed unless it does not fall under copyright restrictions or permission has been granted by the publisher. In the case of students with incompletes, the instructor must notify the library to extend access to those needed course materials.
10. Repeat use of material by the same instructor for the same course may require permission of the copyright owner; instructors must indicate on the e-reserve request whenever their use of a given work is a repeat use. The library will research and request permission from the copyright owner for such uses when necessary.
11. The library will process copyright requests for faculty members. Reasonable copyright fees or article purchases will be paid for by the library. Library payments are limited to $50 per item or $500 per class. Any costs beyond this will be referred back to the faculty member for departmental payment or other arrangements.
12. Access to materials should be limited by password or other means to deter unauthorized access beyond students enrolled in the specific course for which the materials are needed. It is the professor's responsibility to disseminate this information to the students in the class. Each class will have a different username and password. Only the instructor or his designated representative will be able to provide this information to students.
13. Materials placed on Reserve should include a citation to the original source of publication and a form of a copyright notice. Full bibliographic citations must be included with each article/chapter – even if it falls within the fair use guidelines.
14. The materials will contain a notice stating that they may be subject to copyright protection.
15. The library reserves the right to refuse any materials for reserve if it is suspected they might be in violation of copyright law.