Reserve Copyright Guidelines

Photocopies and reproductions of materials may be placed on reserve at the Emerson College Library.  All materials must comply with the Emerson College Copyright Policy.  We will not process any materials that fail to meet the following guidelines:

• All reproduced material on reserve at the Library must be the property of the faculty member placing the item on reserve.
• The Library will only accept photocopies for reserve if the full bibliographic citation is clearly written on the first page.
• The instructor must sign the reserve form's copyright compliance statement before the Library will place materials on reserve.
• It is the responsibility of each professor placing photocopies to review the Library's fair use guidelines and to obtain permission for use if necessary, which can be done by writing directly to the copyright holder.
• An alternative method for obtaining copyright permission is provided by the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). The CCC serves as a clearinghouse for payment of copyright royalties to many publishers. The Center publishes a Title and Fee Catalog, available from the Reserve Coordinator, which lists royalties for the copying of articles from thousands of journals. Many academic journals now state their copyright policies and fees on the masthead page.
• Due to space concerns, only 25 items are permitted on reserve for each class.

The following are photocopied materials that are unacceptable for reserve:

• More than 2 copies of an article. This is due to a shortage of available shelf space.
• Copies of or from consumable works such as coursepacks, workbooks, test booklets, answer sheets and the like.

All reproduced audio and video tapes must meet with the standards of fair use outlined in the Emerson College Copyright Policy.

Suggestions For Obtaining Copyright Permission

Request permission early.  Publishers will often need several weeks to respond to requests and occasionally the publisher is not the copyright owner, so the greater lead time you give the publisher to respond to your request, the better.

Direct your request to the publisher’s copyright permissions department.  The Library will be happy to help you obtain the correct address if it is not published with the material.  Please indicate to the copyright holder that the material will be placed on course reserve at the Emerson College Library.

In order to avoid confusion, include all of the following information in your request.

Author’s, editor’s, translator’s full name(s);
Title, edition, and volume number of book or journal;
Copyright date;
ISBN for books, ISSN for journals;
Exact number of pages;
Number of copies to be made;
Course name and number;
Instructor’s name.

Provide your address and telephone number in case the publisher has any questions for you.

An alternative to requesting permission from the publisher is to use the Copyright Clearance Center.  Ask at the Reserve Desk about using the CCC.

If you have questions or concerns about reserves or copyright, please contact the Reserves Coordinator, Ian Thistle, by email or at 617-824-8326.