Association of Research Libraries (ARL) :: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries

“The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) announces the release of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, a clear and easy-to-use statement of fair and reasonable approaches to fair use developed by and for librarians who support academic inquiry and higher education. The Code was developed in partnership with the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University... In dozens of interviews with veteran research and academic librarians, the researchers learned how copyright law comes into play as interviewees performed core library functions...The Code identifies the relevance of fair use in eight recurrent situations for librarians: [1] Supporting teaching and learning with access to library materials via digital technologies [2] Using selections from collection materials to publicize a library’s activities, or to create physical and virtual exhibitions [3] Digitizing to preserve at-risk items [4] Creating digital collections of archival and special collections materials [5] Reproducing material for use by disabled students, faculty, staff, and other appropriate users [6] Maintaining the integrity of works deposited in institutional repositories [7] Creating databases to facilitate non-consumptive research uses (including search) [8] Collecting material posted on the web and making it available...”