(drafted Nov. 2019 by Amanda Langdon, ILL & Copyright Librarian)
U.S. Copyright Law
Section 108(g)(2): nothing in this clause prevents a library or archives from participating in interlibrary loan arrangements that do not have, as their purpose or effect, that the library or archives receiving such copies… for distribution does so in such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription to or purchase of such work.
Reason for following Compliance Copyright Law (CCL) rather than CONTU Guidelines (CCG)
CONTU guidelines are not law. In 1978, CONTU provided a reasonable baseline for the number of articles (5) that could be obtained through interlibrary loan before becoming “such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription.” However, the publishing industry’s pricing has outpaced the rate of inflation exponentially, while borrowing costs have risen at a more sedate pace, and “the rule of five” is no longer as reasonable for determining fair usage. As such, Adams State intends to follow copyright law (CCL), and no longer adhere directly to CONTU’s guidelines (CCG).
Procedures for following Copyright Compliance Law
In lieu of Compliance with CONTU’s Copyright Guidelines (CCG), Adams State University will:
- Maintain records for material requested by all library users (campus affiliates and community).
- The ILL Librarian and Library director will evaluate ILL usage statistics on a bi-monthly basis.
- This evaluation will take into account:
- The number of requests for articles published within the last 5 years of any given journal
- The number of different users requesting the material
- The frequency of requests, and request patterns across time
- Cost of institutional subscriptions to the journal (electronic, not print, unless mandated)
- Copyright Clearance Center fees for articles
- Requests for subscription purchases from faculty/staff or students
- For journals whose number of requests exceed five, we will evaluate the following:
- Whether they fall under Copyright Law section 107 (fair use) or section 108 (copying by libraries/archives) – in which case no copyright fee is due
- Whether per-article costs are in such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription. If they are deemed to be so, we will turn on Get It Now, and pay Copyright Clearance Center for the remainder of the calendar year’s requests from that title. If they are determined to be significantly under the costs of a subscription, they will be notated and evaluated in the next bi-monthly report.
