I read something about a suit brought by publishers against Georgia State a few days ago and did not think much more about it (NY Times). Then Carvin offered a blog post on the same topic.
It seems Georgia State has been providing students digital reproductions of content from several publishers without authorization.
My first reaction was that the institution purposefully intended to push the “fair use” issue. Then, I wondered if GSU was behind and had different resources than I am used to at my institution. Most of the journals here whether on the shelf or not are available full-text and online. If off-campus (the system must track the IP address of the request), you have to enter a valid university ID for access.
I think I finally figured out what this is about. It is not about journal articles, but book chapters. Libraries can generate pdfs from books, but have to request and typically pay for clearance in the same way they had to pay for clearance in the old days of hard-copy course packs.
Perhaps publishers will negotiate a different price for digital rights for books just like they do for journals. I would think the authentication system would offer similar protection.
There must be some middle ground here. Instructors and institutions cannot seriously think the library should be able to purchase one copy of a book and make it available to all students via pdfs.
According to the NY Times:
R. Bruce Rich, a partner in the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which is representing the plaintiffs, said that in spite of repeated attempts to work with Georgia State, “they indicated that they had no interest in having a discussion.”
Mr. Rich said that in a letter his firm received last summer, Georgia State officials “indicated their view that all of their practices are covered under the fair use doctrine.”
GSU “officials” – ask the librarians, they know better. Would a librarian make multiple copies of a chapter, keep them behind the counter, and hand them out when students wanted one? The may even have a stamp that they print a message on a single copy to indicate the understanding under which that copy was made.
