Copyright Guidelines for Electronic Reserves

Access to items in Notre Dame's Electronic Reserves system is restricted to students enrolled in the course for which the reserve reading is assigned, for their non-commercial, educational use.  Access to these items is governed by section 107 of the copyright act (Title 17, United States Code).

The following copyright warning will be displayed with each item placed on Electronic Reserves:

WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The Copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproduction of copyrighted material. Under the certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.  One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research.  If electronic transmission of reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes “fair use”, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

We cannot post an entire book or an entire issue of a journal unless it is considered to be in the public domain.  Each item placed on Electronic Reserve will include a citation or attribution of their source.

Fair Use

Fair use is a doctrine in copyright law that allows limited use of copyright material without requiring permission from the rights holders for purposes of scholarship or review.

Fair use must be determined when requesting a reserve item. The following factors should be considered when determining fair use.

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work.
• Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

For more information on the four factors please click here

Permission

The Library will seek permission on behalf of instructors and pay reasonable fees if payment is required by the copyright owner.  Items will not be placed on Electronic Reserves if:

• The rightsholder denies permission for use.
• The fees are considered unreasonable.

We recommend that supplemental monograph readings be placed on print reserve when permissions are required. Permissions are calculated by the copyright holder based on number of pages, multiplied by the number of students registered for the course. We noticed that material that is considered supplemental  are not often accessed by the majority of the students.

If questions arise during the permission-seeking process, Reserves staff will contact the instructor and attempt to identify suitable alternatives.

The Library reserves the right to refuse to post material, based on royalty fees or copyright constraints.

Please review the Office of the General Counsel's guidelines on reproducing copyrighted material (pdf).