RE: Fair use (RE: electronic journals CCC)

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> Show me data to support the assertion that allowing
> electronic distribution would result in the kind of scenario you describe.

OK, here's the data: I have a distribution list in my e-mail address book
that reaches just under 3,000 people.  If this message had an article
attached to it, I could forward that article to every one of those people
in a matter of three mouseclicks.  That's considerably less time and
effort than it would take me to print out that same article and bring it
home to show my wife.  Tom, in a previous message, points out that someone
who is out to "cheat the copyright laws" will do so regardless of format,
and he may be right (though I have a hard time picturing this person
making and mailing out 3,000 copies).  But I think copyright owners are
less concerned about willful pirates than they are about people who don't
understand the difference between fair and unfair use (of which there are
many) and who will blithely forward an article to an e-mail list or a
group of colleagues (who will send it to their colleagues and so on)
without any ill intention.

Would that scenario justify copyright holders in screaming and running
around in circles?  No.  Does it justify them in saying "You have to
fulfill ILL requests using paper copies instead of electronic ones"?  
Yes, I think so.  When they don't impose such restrictions, I'm a happy
guy.  When they do, I understand.  Seems like common sense to me.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Electronic Resources/Serials Coordinator
The University Libraries
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 No. Virginia St.
Reno, NV  89557
PH  (775) 784-6500 x273
FX  (775) 784-1328
rickand@unr.edu