The determination of legal facts and economic guideposts with respect to the dissemination of scientific and educational information as it is affected by copyright—A status report

Abstract

AbstractThe study determines the amounts, kinds, source, and age of copyrighted materials copied by United States libraries and information centers. It also examines the “fair use” principle to see if the current copying practices do in fact conform to copyright law. More than one billion pages of copyrighted materials were copied by United States libraries in 1967, almost all as single copies. The librarian equates this practice with fair use despite the fact that there is nothing in copyright statute or the common law to justify this practice. Under current beliefs and practices single‐copy reproduction is not significantly affected or restricted by copyright law. Conclusions and recommendations based on the study are made.