Copyright is an important issue in the scholarly community, and perhaps more so in the evolving digital environment. Specific questions about copyright should be addressed to Roy Ferguson, Executive Assistant to the President.

Here are some general guidelines regarding copyright and the use of the Library:

• The "Fair Use" provision of the Copyright Act of 1976 allows limited copying of copyrighted materials for educational purposes. This includes making copies of articles and book chapters available on reserve for students to use. It does not however extend to making copies for all your students and passing them out to the students.
• Audio-visual materials may be used in a classroom as a fair use. Use of those materials outside of a normal classroom setting is probably not fair use.
• Recording a broadcast for educational purposes is permissible under federal guidelines.
• A digital copy of a copyrighted work is subject to all the provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 as well as the stricter requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• Remember, if you are in doubt about whether a planned use is a "fair use", one can always attempt to contact the copyright holder directly for permission to use a copyrighted work.