Re: settling a dispute

[Karl Bridges <kbridges@uvm.edu>]

I am not sure that one even has the right to just digitize and put the
item up.  It depends on the copyright status of the book, the percentage
of the book you plan to use, and the use to which the digitization is
being put.   For example, my digitizing a few pages of an out of
copyright book for use as an e-reserve for a class for a semester  --
where access is restricted solely to class members would probably be
fine.  My digitizing the whole of the latest Dan Brown novel and putting
it on a public web server -- NO!!!   There are plenty of websites
available that explain this and give sets of criteria to use in judging
whether something is fair use.

In short, what I as a librarian think the law is doesn't matter.  What
matters is what the law (and my university lawyers) actually says.  I do
what the university lawyers tell me is all right to do.

Carl Leak wrote:
> I think the access has to be limited to faculty, staff, and students (or the
> university community). Also, I believe that we have to address this on a
> case-by-case basis. I don't think any book should be available to anyone
> just because a library purchases it or owns it. If I were to go through all
> of the pains of writing a book, there has to be some sort of opportunity to
> make a profit from it. In other words - perhaps some sort of a compromise
> can be made to provide access to content on some sort of secure platform
> with restrictions on duplication. However, it cannot be all one way.
> Especially in this economy when one's hard work should warrant the
> opportunity to gain a profit. For certain voices in our field to say it
> should all be free, is not at all a fair approach.
>
> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 8:14 PM, Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>> I wonder if the listmembers could help to settle a dispute.  The
>> topic is what constitutes fair use of books in libraries.
>>
>> It is my view that some members (I don't know what percentage) of
>> the academic library community believe that educational fair use
>> covers the digitization of a book owned by the library, that the
>> digital edition can be put on a Web server, and that the material
>> can be made available at least to members of the institution
>> (faculty and students).  Some librarians may also believe that
>> the server can be accessible to the open Web, as the book was
>> hosted by an educational institution.
>>
>> The opposing view is that digitized copies are covered by fair
>> use only when they are put in a dark archive for preservation
>> purposes.
>>
>> The question here is not what is the law (a complex question),
>> but what do librarians think the law is.
>>
>> Can anyone offer an opinion?
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Joe Esposito
>>


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