Reserve Policy

Upon request and in accordance with applicable policies and guidelines, the Circulation/Reserve Department provides print access to certain course materials such as class notes, exams, homework assignments, journal articles, and book excerpts.

Guidelines for the Use of COPYRIGHTED Material

Although fair use ultimately depends on the specific facts surrounding each proposed use, the following guidelines are intended to provide direction for use of the Woodward Library's reserve system.

1. All materials placed on reserve will be at the initiative of faculty for the non-commercial, educational usage of students.
2. All photocopies of copyrighted materials must have a notice of copyright located on the first page which follows this example: © Year and Name of copyright holder. Ex. © 1996 American Library Association.
3. Copyright notice will appear on the first page of photocopied reserve material to indicate that materials may be covered by copyright law. Appropriate citations or attributions to their sources will be included. Items without this information are returned to the instructor.
4. The reason for using photocopied materials should stem from the inability to obtain material from any other source, such as recently published articles, or from articles that are no longer in print. The use of any materials in the Reserve Collection should not take the place of the purchase of these same materials, thereby having a detrimental effect on the market for copyrighted work.
5. Photocopied material may be used for ONE semester ONLY unless written permission has been obtained from the copyright holder. The Copyright Law allows for three (3) copies of an item on reserve.
6. The rules of brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative effect should be followed. All material should be BRIEF excerpts of not more than 10% of the total work or 2,300 WORDS whichever is less. If poetry is included, the guidelines state that a complete poem may be used if it is less than 250 words or an excerpt of not more than 250 words from a longer poem. An entire book may not be copied.
7. The amount of materials placed on reserve should be REASONABLE in relation to the total amount of material assigned for an individual course.
8. The number of individual copies should be reasonable and may be determined by the Reserve Staff according to such factors as the number of students enrolled in the course and/or the amount of time allowed for completion of an assignment from the time that the material is placed on reserve. The maximum number of copies of an individual copyrighted item that can be placed on reserve is three (3) copies. If additional copies are needed for more than one semester, copyright permission must be received from the copyright holder.
9. Whenever possible, materials to be copied for reserve will be owned by the faculty submitting them or by the library.
10. The library is not and cannot be held responsible for the loss or mutilation of instructor owned materials by borrowers. It is strongly encouraged that original photocopies be kept by instructors with a copy to be placed on reserve. It is also encouraged that if a photocopy is from a book, to check and see if the library owns a copy of the book and to place the book itself on reserve as a backup to the photocopy.
11. Longer works, such as complete books, will not be copied for reserve. The library will not reproduce materials to place on reserve without permission if the nature, scope, or extent of copying is judged by the library to exceed the reasonable limits of fair use.
12. At the end of each semester, reserve material belonging to faculty members will be returned to them.

These guidelines were compiled from the Copyright Law of the United States of America, Section 107, 108, and 401, contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.

Adopted Aug. 8, 2001; revised Sep. 6, 2016