Page:The librarian's copyright companion, by James S. Heller, Paul Hellyer, Benjamin J. Keele, 2012.djvu/99

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Chapter Five. The Library Exemption (Section 108)
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Articles or Excerpts for Users (Section 108(d))

5.5 Section 108(d) Articles and Excerpts

  • Single copy
  • Becomes user’s property
  • No notice of impermissible purpose
  • Warning of copyright
    • where orders are accepted
    • on order form

Most section 108 copying by libraries takes place under subsection (d). Section 108(d) permits a library to make a single copy of an article, or of another contribution to a collection or periodical issue such as a book chapter, for a patron. It also permits library-to-library copying to fill a patron’s request—what we call interlibrary loan, or perhaps more appropriately, document delivery. Section 108(d) has four conditions.

First, you can only make one copy. What if the requestor asks for two copies, one to read and mark up, and one for her files? Follow Nancy Reagan’s advice, and just say no.[1]

Second, the copy must become the property of the user. You may not add it to the library’s collection. Say, for example, that African explorer Jeffrey T. Spaulding[2] is hired to teach courses at your university. Professor Spaulding asks a reference librarian for an article from the Ghana Journal of Science, and also one from JASSA: Journal of Applied Science in Southern Africa, neither of which the library owns. The reference librarian asks the ILL librarian to get copies of the two articles from another library. The professor really likes one of the articles. He gives it back to the reference librarian and asks her to add it to the library’s collection. Just say no.


  1. See http://www.reaganfoundation.org/her-causes.aspx.
  2. “At last we are to meet him, the famous Captain Spaulding. From climates hot and scalding, the Captain has arrived … .” “Hooray for Captain Spaulding”, from the film Animal Crackers (music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby (1936)).