e-reserves and creative works (plays; poems; short stories)
- February 10, 2009 @ 10:10amstewlibrar says:I work in e-reserves and we have been putting a copy of only 1 short story from a collection or one poem from a collection of poems (Including anthologies)--the question has come up as to how much of a play could be considered fair use. If we own an anthology of plays could we put one entire play on ereserve--if we own a book which is a reprint of an entire play --can we put one act on e-reserves?
- February 18, 2009 @ 9:10amCOvalle says:This is something of a difficult question, because e-reserves policies are generally based on fair use and vary wildly. Currently, I don't know of a consensus practice on this issue. It's dependent on how comfortable your institution is with fair use.
- February 25, 2009 @ 12:50pmRuthDukelow says:Regarding plays, another factor to consider is whether your library agreed not to copy the playscript. Under section 108 (f)(4), your library cannot claim the right to copy materials under an exception in the copyright law if your library has agreed under contract not to copy. When I worked for university library with a theater dept, we were able to obtain permission from Samuel French to purchase several playscripts for our college library collection, on the condition that the scripts were not to be copied nor performed outside of the classroom. We were able to place the purchased scripts on reserve but could not make additional copies.
Regarding placing materials on reserve or ereserve, a good summary of fair use and reserves is found on ALA web site at: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/wo/woissues/copyrightb/fairuseandelectronicreserves/ereservesFU.cfm - March 6, 2009 @ 10:35amwilliamsonl says:When a work is part of an anothology, each work is an entity in itself. So if you are asking about the fair use provision regarding amount of work used, then you are using the entire work, not just a 'chapter' such as from a textbook. I am spending more and more on these permissions (and they are sometimes harder to find) as our Literature classes go online. First you have to find the copyright holder (which is not usually the creator of the anthology) and then usually a literary agent. Sometimes it's best to find the original collection of short stories/plays by the author and clear that through CCC instead of relying on the anthology as your source.
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