Reading the Fine Print

Many members of our school consortium subscribe to a range of periodical databases. If our library uses EBSCO and another library uses ProQuest can we request an article from them that's not in our database? Our local EBSCO representative said we couldn't. Is he right? Since it's fine to share print periodicals within our consortium, is there some way we can legally share articles from our electronic databases?
—Stephanie Meyer, head librarian Campbell Hall School, North Hollywood, CA

The EBSCO Representative may very well be right. . Since the library has licensed access to the databases (instead of actually purchasing the periodicals), the terms of the license define what the library can lawfully do with the materials. If the license says you can share the articles, then you can. I know that some libraries have been able to negotiate contract terms with their vendors that allow them to send a paper copy of an article from the database to another library. I would suggest finding out more about your license agreement. Perhaps whoever negotiates licenses for your school library can strike a new bargain with your vendor. Librarians should play an active role in the license negotiation process. If you do not negotiate licenses yourself, make your needs known to whoever does. Whenever your library is acquiring access to electronic resources through a license arrangement, do not assume that you automatically have the same rights and exemptions offered to libraries, teachers, and students that are spelled out in the copyright law.

Recently a patron loaned us her postcard collection. Would we be violating any copyright laws if we scanned it for our local history Web page and included a collection of photos of airplanes manufactured by a local company? What kind of wording should we include to protect ourselves?
—Judith Hookway, adult services librarian Rodman Public Library Alliance, OH
It is unlikely that the patron holds copyright on the postcards. So she cannot give permission to the library to scan them, since the copyright holder must make that determination. However, if the postcards were published before 1923, they are now in the public domain and you can do whatever you want with them! There are also other reasons why the postcards may be in the public domain. For several years, the law required materials to include a notice of copyright; as a result, materials published without a copyright notice between 1923 and 1978 are now in the public domain. To confuse matters even further, materials published without a copyright notice between 1978 and March 1, 1989, may be in the public domain if they were not later registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. (I'm sidestepping the possibility that the postcards were published in a foreign country, which would raise a host of international copyright issues.)

The same rules apply concerning the airplane photographs. Remember, just because the library has a collection of photographs does not mean it has copyright protection. If the manufacturer holds the copyright and gives you permission to scan them, then go for it. Include a message on the Web page that the materials are copyright protected and that permission must be sought before exercising any of the exclusive rights of copyright.

Update: In a previous column, I suggested that it was legal for local libraries to create posters using the same format as the American Library Association's Celebrity READ series, which features posters of Serena Williams, Bill Cosby, and other celebrities. ALA's Graphics Department disagrees: it asks that permission be sought. If your library intends to adapt the READ-poster format and believes that prior permission is necessary, contact ALA Graphics at (800) 941-8478, ext. 5052.