What’s the big deal about copyright?
Copyright gives authors and other creators certain rights under federal law. There are some exemptions for libraries and for educational uses, but the University must operate within their boundaries or pay the copyright holders to use their work. Copyright law controls the use of copies for reserves, as well as copies the library staff make to fulfill document delivery or interlibrary loan requests. Originals, whether owned by the library or by the instructor, can circulate freely. Increasingly, though, information resources are provided electronically. Our use of them is typically controlled not by copyright law, but by our license agreements with individual publishers and content aggregators. The Library staff has the responsibility to monitor and to abide by these legal agreements.
Copyright gives authors and other creators certain rights under federal law. There are some exemptions for libraries and for educational uses, but the University must operate within their boundaries or pay the copyright holders to use their work. Copyright law controls the use of copies for reserves, as well as copies that Library staff members make to fulfill document delivery or interlibrary loan requests. Originals, whether owned by the Library or by the instructor, can circulate freely. Increasingly, though, information resources are provided electronically. Our use of them is typically controlled not by copyright law, but by our license agreements with individual publishers and content aggregators. The Library has the responsibility to monitor and to abide by these legal agreements.
