Emmanuel d’Alzon Library’s guidelines for providing access to copyright-protected materials through its e-reserve service are based on the fair use provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 (Title 17 of the United States Code). Section 107 of the Copyright Act expressly permits fair use of copyrighted materials for teaching, scholarship and research. The conditions for fair use are determined by a considering the four factors specified in Section 107:
- The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
When processing e-reserve requests, Library staff will follow the general guidelines listed below:
- Library Reserves staff will limit the portion of any single book scanned to a small portion of the book (typically a chapter or two).
- A single article from a particular issue of a journal can be scanned and uploaded to Brightspace.
- Links to articles will be posted when an article is available freely on the web or through a library database subscription.
- The Library will attempt to purchase any material used for e-reserve that it does not already own.
- Materials that do not fall within fair use may be placed on e-reserve, if the instructor has obtained permission from the copyright holder.