Federal:
Taking a look at copyright news this week while there is a lull in legislative news, Carrie Russell writes an interesting piece for the District Dispatch about interlibrary loan (ILL) permission fees. Her survey of libraries indicates that article permission fees are often steep, and she expounds on the case of one journal’s fee in particular. In the instance of this selected journal, whose publisher is on Beall’s list of predatory publishers, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) fee is about five times the cost of buying the article directly from the publisher. When processing ILL requests for articles from predatory journals in particular, Russell suggests that librarians explore the difference in cost between buying directly from the publisher versus through the CCC. Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law prescribes the allowances for libraries in reproducing journal articles and other works. For a few years now, Section 108 has been under review for reform by the U.S. Copyright Office, to reflect the modern digital age. Read the Library Copyright Alliance’s statement in opposition to such reform.
State:
Just a reminder that this is Banned Books Week. You can speak up for our right to read at the local, state, or national level. For ideas, check out the Illinois Library Association Take Action page.