PRINCIPLE:
When fully accessible copies are not readily available from commercial sources, it is fair use for a library to (1) reproduce materials in its collection in accessible formats for the disabled upon request, and (2) retain those reproductions for use in meeting subsequent requests from qualified patrons.
LIMITATIONS:
- Libraries should provide patrons with information about their own rights and responsibilities regarding works provided to them in this way.
- When appropriate (taking into consideration the needs of the disabled patron), the requester’s use of the materials should be time-limited by analogy to the limits the library imposes on use by other persons.
- Libraries should coordinate their response to requests with the university’s disability services office, or the equivalent, and observe standard conventions on the identification of individuals entitled to service.
ENHANCEMENTS:
- Claims for fair use may well be further reinforced if technological protection measures are applied to assure that limitations on the use of accessible copies are observed.
- The fair use case will be enhanced by programs that are well publicized to the affected communities together with policies that are widely and consistently applied.
SIX: MAINTAINING THE INTEGRITY OF WORKS DEPOSITED IN INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORIES
DESCRIPTION:
Many libraries that serve postsecondary institutions are developing digital institutional repositories (or IRs) that house and provide access to a variety of different kinds of material directly related to their institutions’ activities, including scholarship of faculty and graduate students as well as documentation of institutional histories. The collection and maintenance of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) is a related issue. Access to ETDs and other material in IRs may be restricted to individuals with institutional affiliations, but many libraries aspire to make their contents available to the general public. Many deposited works quote or incorporate third-party material in ways that represent appropriate fair use by the faculty member or student in question. Librarians can and should respect the integrity of deposited materials that include selections from copyright works incorporated in reliance on fair use.
