Current copyright law essentially prohibits the use of photocopies as a substitute for the purchase of copyrighted books, periodicals and reprints. In order to comply with this law, the Library adheres to the following policies and procedures.
 

• Books

The Library's policy is to have at least one copy of every required book on reserve.

If the Library does not already own the book, it will purchase it.

If the Library does not own sufficient copies of the book, it will purchase additional copies.

If the book is not in print or cannot be provided by the publisher in a timely way, the Library will attempt to borrow copies from other Columbia University libraries OR request to use your personal or departmental copy.

If all of the above alternatives have been pursued in good faith, but in vain, the Library will then, and only then, allow a single photocopy of a reasonable portion of the text to be made under the "fair use" clause of the copyright law.
 

• Periodical Articles

Allowable use of photocopied articles from magazines and journals varies from publisher to publisher. In order to assure compliance, the Reserve Department must have a complete citation for each article you are assigning.

One copy of an article can always be used under the "fair use" clause. Most journal publishers have an established policy on how many additional copies of an article they will allow.

If additional copies are required, the Library has two basic alternatives: pay a per-page royalty fee to the Copyright Clearance Center (provided that the publisher is a CCC participant) for each additional copy or purchase reprints (if available) directly from the journal publisher or a commercial document delivery service. If neither of these options proves viable, only one copy of the article will be on reserve.

The Library will scan photocopies of articles from journals not available to us electronically and chapters from books if submitted by faculty for reserves. Under the "fair use" provision, we will scan one article from an issue of a journal and one or two chapters (depending on length) from a book.

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Please keep this information in mind as you prepare your course reading lists.  In order to provide the service that you need while maintaining strict compliance with current copyright law, the Library must have sufficient lead time to make the necessary arrangements.