Inside Iowa State
August 11, 2000
Do you have copyright permission on that?
by Anne Krapfl
As the saying goes, there's a wealth
of information out there -- but faculty who want to share
some of it with their students need to think about securing
copy-right permission before they grab it and use it. Two
units on campus -- the University Book Store, which works
heavily with preparing course packs, and the library, which
offers services such as interlibrary loan, copy services and
a course reserved reading collection -- already are diligent
about adhering to copyright law.
The 1976 federal Copyright Act automatically protects all material created in a "fixed format" -- including literary, dramatic and musical works, reference work, sound recordings, sculptures, films, audio-visual or computer software -- and protects it as soon as it is created. (However, for someone to sue an infringer, he or she has to have registered a work with the U.S. Copyright Office.) Copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. After that, the material becomes "public domain."
Wayne Pedersen, acting head of access services at Parks Library, said educational use of materials doesn't exempt faculty, or the library, from copyright rules (although the "fair use" clause in the law does allow some wiggle room.) Some faculty also mistakenly assume that they have unrestricted use of past students' work created in their classes or long-time friends' work.
Reserve items at the library
One of the largest library services concerned with
copyright restrictions is the reserve collection.
Reserve includes both print materials that can be checked out at the library, and online reserve materials that can be accessed via the Web. Reserve materials for more than 500 courses are available on the electronic reserve system each semester, said Pam Williams, who oversees the system. She said her staff sought about 200 copyright permissions spring semester alone. The library, on behalf of the instructors, pays copyright fees -- typically $1 to $100 per piece per semester -- from its materials and access budget. A "spontaneity" clause in the copyright law allows one-time use of a piece without seeking permission. Iowa State groups interpret this to mean use for one semester only; subsequent use -- even if several years lapse -- requires copyright permission.
"We are trying to work with instructors to whittle down the number of items they post on reserve to a small part of the required materials for the course," Williams said. "Five or six or even 20 pieces is reasonable; 80 to 100 require a course pack."
Sometimes, Williams said, publishers deny copyright permission because they have their own fee-based document delivery services. They expect students to order the article directly from them. The library is increasing subscriptions to full-text, online electronic indexing services and linking to requested reserve articles. Generally, copyright fees are included in the subscription costs. Williams said her staff will put an item on reserve while it awaits a response on a copyright request. If the request is denied, they pull the piece immediately and alert the instructor.
Course packs at the bookstore
Paul Dosch, a buyer in the University Book Store who
primarily works with course packs, has to take a different
approach. No response from a publisher is as good as a "no,"
he said, because he can't approve a course pack or put a
retail price on it until he's certain of its contents.
(Copyright permission fees for course packs are passed along
to students; neither the bookstore nor the department picks
up the charge.)
Dosch has approved course packs containing up to 100 pieces that required copyright permission.
The most helpful thing faculty can do is include complete bibliographies when they turn in course pack requests, he said. Include the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) if it's a book, and page numbers for all entries, he advised.
"Having a bibliography speeds up the copyright and copying process tremendously," he said.
He estimates that 40 percent of the permissions he sought over the last year requested copyright fees; the rest granted permission with no fee.
Both Dosch and Williams work as much as they can through a Web site called the Copyright Clearance Center, where the response is usually prompt. But not all publishers participate in the clearinghouse, so 60 to 70 percent of Iowa State's requests go directly to publishers, via a faxed written request.
"A course pack is as slow to come together as the slowest publisher," Dosch said.
Dosch, Williams and Pedersen ask faculty to plan ahead on reserve items at the library or course packs at the bookstore, particularly if they know their request will include a copyright search. Turning their materials in two to three weeks before their students need it gives staff time to secure all necessary copyright permissions.
Some facts about copyright permission:
- Permission is required every time (i.e., every semester) an instructor wants to use an article, book chapter or table. Infrequently, a publisher will grant copyright permission to a faculty member for a specific work for a period of, say, five years, Dosch said.
- If a book is in print, the publisher sets the limit on how much of it can be reproduced (generally in the range of 10 to 15 percent). Copyright permission is needed, regardless of the length of the excerpt. If a book is out of print, the publisher may grant permission to reproduce its entire text.
- Many publishers require assignment of copyright as a condition of publication, so the author may not hold the copyright authority.
- Contrary to what many want to believe, the "fair use" clause in the Copyright Act doesn't give educators a blanket exemption from copyright restrictions. Fair use requires the user to consider: purpose and character of the use; nature of the copyrighted work; amount (ratio) being requested in relation to the size of the total work; and effect on the market if copyright permission is granted. Course packs containing unauthorized works specifically are forbidden in the "fair use" guidelines.
- Web sites cannot be copied unless language on a specific site grants this, Dosch said. The law says anything permanent is copyright-protected. (For example, even non-profit sites such as the American Lung Association or the World Health Organization are protected.)
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