I think one of the questions Tom is asking,is can a library be held responsible,if a patron borrows a CD or DVD,and burns a copy of it ? My armchair answer is yes, if the RIAA learns about it.If universities can be held liable for "illegal" file sharing that goes on through computers on their property,why not ?The RIAA is all powerful,they can go after whoever they damn well please,even some little library,or school a town in the middle of nowhere.I can even forsee a case,where the RIAA might sue the government,and win
Roger
"Farrington, Jim" <jfarrington@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Libraries can legally circulate almost anything they want. The exception
would be personal archives for which a contract was drawn up that
specifically excludes items from even being shown, but I'm assuming you
are asking about commercial items bought for the collections. Whether
they choose to circulate items--books, recordings, videos, periodicals,
computer programs, artwork, video games, or any other physical thing--or
not is entirely at the discretion of that library, regardless of its
size or primary clientele. I guess I should also say that I am talking
about original items, not surrogates (the scenarios mentioned below
strike me as being extremely questionable, legally--section 108 of Title
17 covers library exceptions to U.S. copyright laws, whereas section 107
covers individuals).
Jim Farrington Head of Public Services Sibley Music Library Eastman School of Music 27 Gibbs St. Rochester, NY 14604 585-274-1304 585-274-1380 (f)
-----Original Message----- From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Fine Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 8:45 AM To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ARSCLIST] Libraries, circulation copies and fair use
Hi All:
I'm hoping we have some library-policy experts here that can point me to some answers.
Can a library -- not a big institution or university, just a local community library -- circulate single copies of out-of-print CD's and DVD's they have in their collections? I did a quick Google and couldn't find a definitive answer. I thought Stanford had a simple-to-understand "yes and no" guide to fair for libraries use but I couldn't find it this morning. If I recall that web page, which I read some time ago, it is fair use to take out of circulation and circulate a single copy of an item that is either non-replaceable or replaceable at great cost (ie out of print).
Further, what about circulating single copies of ALL CD and DVD media given the proven fragile nature of the media? My local library head tells me that she gets DVD failure reports after 10 or fewer circulations in some cases, and most older CD's in the library system are badly scratched and sometimes gouged. Books on CD are bigger problems because some publishers do limited dupe runs onto CDR media and that wears out quickly from typical in-car handling. Audiobook publishers vary on replacement policies, the library lady told me. Some do it for the cost of postage if you send back the damaged disc. Some charge as much as $20 per disc. The librarian told me that local libraries are in a big bind with all of this because printed books are just not their bread and butter anymore. DVD's are a huge circulation item, as are kids' computer software and games. Music CD's are a somewhat popular circulation item. But the big one is audiobooks, she said.
When I was a kid, if I went to the local library and wanted to borrow a kiddie-sound thing that was on a cassette, the library would run off a copy and circulate the copy with me. When I brought the tape back, they'd put it in a pile to be re-copied with something else and re-circulated. The librarian explained to me that the albums were expensive to replace and kids had a habit of mangling cassette tapes. I'm not sure how strict they were about only having one copy in circulation but I think that requirement may have been tightened up with a law made after I was a kid. I grew up in a town that had plenty of lawyers living in it, so I doubt this procedure was patently illegal back then.
Has the ARSC published any articles previously that bring some clarity to all of this fair-use thing? I think it would be a very helpful resource, one version for local libraries and small circulating collections, one version for big institutions like university libraries and one version of individual collectors (ie do we pose any risk of arrest if we choose to back up our personal collections to hard drive? -- there seem to be many different opinions on this, from the ultra-paranoid to the "what me worry".
-- Tom Fine
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