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Blake Library

Copyright Guidelines

copyright symbol (public domain)Copyright Law & Guidelines

Blake Library staff adhere to copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and Fair Use guidelines. Copyright exemptions include:

  • §108 limitation on the right of reproduction (non-profit educational libraries can make limited copies).
  • §109 limitation on the right of distribution (once a lawful copy is obtained, one may distribute that copy through loan, rental or sale).
  • §110 limitation on the right of public performance and display (non-profit, educational institutions can perform or display some works in the "face-to-face" classroom and virtual classroom situations).

Fair Use guidelines (§107) are as follows:

  • The Purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a 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; and
  • The Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The Copyright Management Center has a CHECKLIST that is convenient to use when in doubt.

Or try the FAIR USE EVALUATOR.


Reserve Material Guidelines

Definition and Purpose of Reserves
Reserves are materials (including books, disks, A/V materials, journal articles and/or photocopies, electronic resources, instructional equipment and non-book items) chosen by the faculty to support class instruction. Library staff maintains the materials in a separate location within the library, and access to the material is more restricted than is the access to items in general circulation.

The purpose of a reserve collection is to:

  1. support the needs of a group of patrons. The group is usually a UMFK class but may also be another unit within the UMFK University, such as a department;
  2. provide timely, convenient, and efficient access to high-demand materials; and
  3. protect materials that are at a high risk of theft or vandalism.

Several of the general principles that govern the acquisition of materials for Blake Library support the use of the material in the course reserve system. In particular:

  • The University acquires all collections in Blake Library, regardless of format, for the nonprofit educational purposes by students, staff, faculty, and other authorized users.
  • Blake Library staff acquires all library materials with the understanding that there will be multiple uses made of the items.
  • With journals, Blake Library, either individually or through the University of Maine System consortium, frequently must pay a premium institutional subscription price, which may be many times an individual subscription price, for the privilege of supporting multiple academic users.

Blake Library staff provides the Library's course reserve system, which is a traditional library service, in a manner that respects the rights of copyright holders and the limitations to those rights as specified in current copyright law.

General Reserve Copyright Guidelines
The Blake Library guidelines on copying for reserve reading services derive from the fair use provisions of the copyright law of the United States as found in Section 107 of Title 17 of the United States Code. Section 107 expressly permits the making of multiple copies for classroom use under certain circumstances. Such educational copying is one of the six illustrative examples of acceptable fair use given in the section. The text of Section 107 is:

Not withstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include,

  1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation. to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

The Library reserves the right to refuse to place on reserve any material that it feels may violate these copyright guidelines.

  1. Staff will only place material on reserve at the request of faculty or staff. Reserve materials are intended solely for non-commercial, educational use.
  2. Only lawfully acquired material may become part of the reserve system. Normally this includes material that the Library has acquired or licensed as well as material the instructor provides.
  3. Staff may copy only a small portion of any copyrighted work (i.e., a chapter from a book, one article from an issue of a journal, several charts, graphs or illustrations, or other small parts of a work) for the reserve system without the permission of the copyright owner.
    1. Exceptions may occur on a case by case basis. E.g. first few chapters of a textbook for limited access while students wait for their purchased copy to arrive.
  4. Neither excerpts from nor an entire assigned course packets will be made available electronically without the permission of the copyright owner. Note that items that are available in library-licensed electronic resources normally include the required permission. A physical copy of the course packet can be placed on in-library reserve.
  5. Reproduced course materials should include proper attribution and retain copyright notices. Therefore, the first page on each reserve item should include the notice of copyright that is found in the original item. When no such notice can be found, a legend stating that the work may be protected by copyright can be used.
  6. Reproduced materials on reserve will be accessible only by instructor name, course name and department name.
  7. In order to view materials in the electronic reserve system, users will be required to enter a password to gain access to the electronic reserve course and materials. At the end of each semester, staff will suppress access to electronic files so patrons cannot retrieve the files from the reserve system. Staff will return to the faculty the materials loaned by them for the reserve system.

10/05/2006