BUSINESS INFORMATION CENTER

Copyright Compliance:

Guidelines for Southern Methodist University's Business Information Center

Description of Fair Use

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries may furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If electronic transmission of reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

The Fair Use provision of the copyright law is very broadly defined. The BIC has established guidelines for both traditional and electronic course reserves based upon the American Library Association's Model Policy Concerning College and University Photocopying for Classroom, Research and Library Reserve Use and Fair Use in the Electronic Age: Serving the Public Interest. Draft document developed by the American Library Association.

Distribution of the photocopied material should occur for only one semester unless specific permission is granted for extended use.
Only one copy should be distributed for each student.
The material must include a copyright notice on the first page of the portion of material photocopied.
Students should not be assessed any fee beyond the actual cost of the photocopying.

Guidelines for SMU's BIC:

Use of the Electronic Reserves is limited to the community of Southern Methodist University, which includes students, faculty and staff.
The following copyright warning should be attached to each document in the Electronic Reserves:

WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproduction of copyrighted material. If reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes "fair use", the user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Material in Electronic Reserves should only be accessed by course name or professor name in the public access database (PONI). Title and author are not searchable, which helps to ensure that the main users of the material are students enrolled in the class.
At the end of each semester, all material in Electronic Reserves will be suppressed from the public access database unless it either falls outside copyright restrictions or copyright permission has been granted by the publisher.
Faculty members must sign a statement of copyright compliance for photocopy reserve items and will be responsible to securing permission from the publisher for use of any materials used after a one-semester Fair Use period. The library may assist in obtaining copyright-clear copies of materials if permission has not been granted in time for the material's use. Specific copyright requirements follow.

Materials That May Be Placed on Reserve at the BIC Without Publisher Permission:

Exams
Lecture notes
Student papers
Government publications
One article from a journal issue
One chapter from a book

When To Write For Copyright Permission For Electronic Reserves:

When an article from a journal is needed by a professor for more than one semester.
When multiple articles from one journal issue are needed for electronic reserve. When one chapter of a book is needed by a professor for more than one semester. When multiple chapters of a book are needed for electronic reserve.
When an out of print book is needed for electronic reserve.

Both the Copyright & Fair Use Web site created by Stanford University Libraries and the Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web Web site created by University of Maryland University College: Information and Library Services contain a wide range of information about copyright and fair use which users may find beneficial. Also, the WATCH site contains names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for English language authors. SMU provides basic copyright guidance and information for copyright use in course reserves.