Copyright: A Guide

Libraries rely heavily on the first sale doctrine. This provision in copyright permits libraries to lend copies of materials they have legally acquired without infringing on the rights of copyright owners. In the first sale doctrine, the copyright owner's rights are exhausted after the first purchase of a new copy of a copyrighted work. After that initial purchase, the owner of the physical copy (such as a library) can lend, sell, rent, or otherwise distribute the copy without asking permission of the copyright owner.

Section 108 of the copyright code permits libraries to make archival copies for purposes of preservation within the following parameters:

• The library must be open to the public or to outside researchers
• The copy must be made without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage
• Avoid any systematic reproduction of the same item
• Each copy must include a copyright notice
• The format should be obsolete, meaning that the format is "no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace." This now includes VHS.
• If the work is unpublished, it must be part of the copying library's collection, and be solely for preservation or for deposit at another library. The library can make two copies, one for patron use and one for safekeeping. Additional copies may be share for preservation at other libraries.
• If the work is published, the copies must be intended solely for replacement of an item that is damaged, deteriorated or lost or if the format has become obsolete.
• The library has conducted a reasonable investigation to determine that a replacement cannot be found at a fair price.
• A digital copy may not be made available "outside the premises of the library."

Section 108 of the copyright code permits libraries to make single copies for a researcher's personal use within the following parameters:

• The library must be open to the public or to outside researchers
• The copy must be made without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage
• Avoid any systematic reproduction of the same item
• Each copy must include a copyright notice
• Types of works that can be copied are limited to: journals, newspapers, books, and other textual works; illustrations of textual works; audiovisual works dealing with the news; sounds recordings of the spoken word or public domain works
• If the copy is a portion of a larger work, such as a book chapter, the copy becomes the property of the user, the library has no notice that the copy is for any purpose other than private study, and a copyright notice is visible where the copy is requested/distributed.
• If the copy is of the entire larger work, or a substantial part of that work, the library should conduct a reasonable investigation the that work can't be obtained at a fair price, the copy becomes the property of the user, the library has no notice that the copy is for any purpose other than private study, and a copyright notice is visible where the copy is requested/distributed.

Section 108 permits the borrowing and lending of works between libraries through a process called interlibrary loan.

Interlibrary loan arrangements cannot have "as their purpose or effect" that the library receiving the copies on behalf of requesting patrons "does so in such aggregate quantities as to substitute to or purchase of such a work." When the demand for a journal or other work reaches a certain level, the library should consider subscribing to or purchasing the work in question.

The CONTU (National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works) standards generally permit a library to receive up to five copies per year from the most recent five years of a journal title before purchase/licensing of the journal or articles is recommended.