[WEB4LIB] E-reserves, e-journals & copyrights

[Dan Lester]

Saturday, January 06, 2001, 11:49:33 AM, you wrote:

KI> Hi folks,

KI> Has anyone explored/determined the legality of using PDF files from 
KI> subscription e-journal archives (e.g. ProQuest Direct) in online course 
KI> reserves? The alternative would be to scan xeroxes of the originals. The 
KI> advantage would be that UMI does a better job digitizing than we do, and we 
KI> don't have to do the work. In either case, each classes' materials would be 
KI> password protected.

I'd say that it all depends on the license agreement with the
provider.  However, it would seem logical (which isn't the same as
legal) that if your B&H databases are licensed such that they are
available to all of your university community, that would include
students in classes who would read these things as "reserve readings".
This would be particularly likely to be OK if you linked directly to
the articles in the provider's system.

I can imagine that there might be some wording in a contract saying
that you couldn't make copies of them available on your own ereserve
system.

KI> I can envision a variety of different possibilities including:

KI> 1) No, thou shalt not use PDFs from e-journals in online reserves
KI> 2) You can use them only if you also subscribe to the journal in print
KI> 3) Sure, not a problem.

Any of these could be possible, depending on the contract.

KI> Does anyone have a clue what the real answer is?

It all depends.....and, remember, I'm not a lawyer.

cheers

dan


-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.postcard.org  www.gailndan.com