Re: E-Reserves question

[Sandy Thatcher <sandy.thatcher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:49 AM -0400 9/5/11, ESperr@xxxxxxx wrote:
>Sandy --
>
>I wonder then if you could comment on the difference between the 
>AAUP circa 1996, which seemed to recognize the importance of Fair 
>Use to the system of scholarly communication, and the AAUP circa 
>2011, which (along with the plaintiffs in the GSU case) seems to 
>take a breathtakingly maximalist position. It is *very* hard to 
>reconcile the proposed CONFU guidelines of then with the proposed 
>injunction that the publishers are seeking against GSU right now.

I don't see any inconsistency at all. Perhaps you'll understand why 
if you read my article in Against the Grain (March 2010), which you 
can access here: 
http://www.psupress.org/news/SandyThatchersWritings.html


>
>I agree with Kevin that guidelines like this aren't the 
>be-all-end-all, but at the end of the day I need something more 
>concrete to tell my faculty than "it depends". On campus, we do try 
>to communicate the notion that our policy is a "floor and not a 
>ceiling". Coloring inside the lines should always be safe, but there 
>*may* also be uses outside our policy that are okay as well.


And that is exactly the reason that i believe many universities 
decided to adopt the CONFU guidelines as a de facto policy. The 
alternative, which is reflected also in many universities' policies, 
is simply to say that the university follows fair use, reproduce 
Section 107,  and leave it at that.

The checklist championed by Ken Crews at Indiana and Columbia, and 
adopted belatedly at GSU, is somewhere in between these options.

>
>Going forward, I am very much looking forward to the new Fair use 
>guide coming from the ARL 
>(http://chronicle.com/article/Pushing-Back-Against-Legal/127690/)...


I look forward to this also, but would recommend that you take a look 
at the booklet on copyright, written by Michael Les Benedict, that 
will soon be forthcoming from the American historical Association. I 
saw it in draft form and offered comments.  Benedict and I were the 
two external reviewers for the book by Stanley Lindberg and L. Ray 
Patterson that inspired the previous, but now abandoned, GSU policy: 
http://books.google.com/books?id=pTIS8HWvNOgC&dq=the+nature+of+copyright+the+law+of+users+rights&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=cqpaTLz4IIGC8gbCiMj8AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

>.
>
>
>Ed Sperr, M.L.I.S.
>Copyright and Electronic Resources Officer
>St. George's University
>esperr@xxxxxxx
>
>Sandy Thatcher <sandy.thatcher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>09/02/2011 12:41 PM
>To
>ESperr@xxxxxxx, digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>cc
>Subject
>Re: E-Reserves question
>
>
>
>
>
>Interesting that you should mention CONFU's e-reserve guidelines.
>Yours is not the only library whose policy has been influenced by
>them. In fact, in a survey I helped conduct some ten years ago, it
>became clear that the CONFU standard, though never officially
>endorsed by CONFU itself, has become a de facto standard throughout
>the country.
>
>The CONFU guidelines were drafted by Kenny Crews (who was an expert
>witness in the GSU case). I was the primary representative for the
>AAUP in negotiating language that would allow the AAUP to endorse the
>guidelines, and the language of point 4 you quote was something that
>I recommended as key to making it possible for the AAUP to support
>the guidelines. The guidelines were endorsed not only by the AAUP but
>by a number of other groups including the ACLS and several smaller
>library associations, but not the ARL or ALA. They, like the AAP,
>felt they could succeed in lobbying Congress to pass legislation more
>favorable to their interests. That, of course, did not happen. A
>major opportunity was lost, in my opinion, but I was pleased that
>many libraries endorsed the guidelines in de facto fashion anyway.
>
>Sandy Thatcher
>
>
>
>At 11:43 AM -0400 9/2/11, ESperr@xxxxxxx wrote:
>  >Perhaps the CONFU "Fair use guidelines for electronic reserves systems"
>>(http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/rsrvguid.html) might be of some 
>>assistance? I
>  >certainly hope so, as our own campus policy has been informed by 
>them. All the
>>caveats noted for CONTU, etc. about this not being "the law" still apply of
>>course.
>>
>>Under "scope", we see point 3: "Electronic reserve systems should
>>not include any material unless the instructor, the library, or another unit
>>of the educational institution possesses a lawfully obtained copy." 
>>This would
>>seem to indicate that ILL is a-ok.
>>
>>However, I *might* be a little worried about point 4: "The total amount of
>>material included in electronic reserve systems for a specific course as a
>>matter of fair use should be a small proportion of the total assigned reading
>>for a particular course." Depending on the total reading assigned, eleven
>>articles seems to shade close to coursepack territory -- a place where factor
>>four might loom larger...
>>
>>
>>     >Faculty member wants to put 11 articles obtained from ILL on E-Reserves.
>>     >What are your thoughts on this?  Fair use or not?
>>     >--
>>     >David A. Scott
>>     >Access Services Librarian
>>     >Ferris Library for Information Technology&  Education
>>
>>
>>Ed Sperr, M.L.I.S.
>>Copyright and Electronic Resources Officer
>>St. George's University
>>esperr@xxxxxxx
>>
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>
>--
>Sanford G. Thatcher
>8201 Edgewater Drive
>Frisco, TX  75034-5514
>e-mail: sandy.thatcher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Phone: (214) 705-1939
>Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sanford.thatcher
>
>"If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying."-John Ruskin (1865)
>
>"The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people
>who can write know anything."-Walter Bagehot (1853)
>
>
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-- 
Sanford G. Thatcher
8201 Edgewater Drive
Frisco, TX  75034-5514
e-mail: sandy.thatcher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: (214) 705-1939
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sanford.thatcher

"If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying."-John Ruskin (1865)

"The reason why so few good books are written is that so few people 
who can write know anything."-Walter Bagehot (1853)