Re: CD-ROM backups (revisited?)

[Alan Edelson <amedelson@topnet.net>]

If you simply ask yourself whether a book publisher would object to a
library's making photocopies of a title as a "back up", I think you have
your answer.

Alan M. Edelson, Ph.D.

Kenneth R Irwin wrote:

> Hello folks,
>
> I'm new to this list and I hope this is actually on topic: a brief
> discussion of the subject appears in the archives from ca. 1996.
>
> Do many products' licenses allow libraries to make backup copies of
> circulating CD-ROM materials? Our library is just beginning to deal with
> the issues surrounding circulating CD-ROMs and our director is interested
> in pursuing such backups if they are legal.
>
> I'm sure providers would be none to keen on having us replace *lost*
> (read: stolen, in most cases) CDs with backups, but what about replacing
> damaged CDs. Some get pretty beat up and unusable in circulating.
>
> Any thoughts? (If making such backups is largely illegal -- or even if
> it's not-- I'd be interested in hearing (off list, as it's certainly
> off-topic) about other libraries' strategies for protecting the discs from
> harm.
>
> Thanks,
>
> [/|\]  Ken Irwin  -=-  kirwin@wittenberg.edu  -=-  (937) 327-7594
> |-+-|  Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian
> [\|/]  Thomas Library, Wittenberg University