Copyright Resources

Subsection 108(g)(2) of the copyright law deals, among other things, with limits on interlibrary loan arrangements for photocopying. It prohibits systematic photocopying of copyrighted materials but permits interlibrary loan arrangements “that do not have, as their purpose or effect, that the library or archives receiving such copies or phonorecords for distribution does so in such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription to or purchase of such work.”

Each time a library requests a photocopy of a magazine article through interlibrary loan, they must indicate copyright compliance on each request form. There are two options for copyright compliance, either CCG (Compliance CONTU Guidelines) or CCL (Compliance Copyright Law).

If a library requests a photocopy of a magazine article that was published within the last 5 years, that library would indicate CCG compliance (CONTU Guidelines) on the interlibrary loan form. A library may request up to five articles published within the past five years from a magazine to which they do not subscribe. For example, between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015, a library may request up to a total of five articles published between 2010 and 2015 from the magazine Journal of Irreproducible Results without violating copyright guidelines. The five articles allowed are counted from the entire five year span and are not counted as five from each year. There is one exception. If a library subscribes to a magazine and requests copies of articles from it that were published within the last five years -- this could become necessary if a library had missing issues or just started subscribing to the magazine -- copyright guideline restrictions (CCG) would not apply and a library would not count these requests toward its total five allowed.

It is up to the borrowing library to keep track of the number of articles requested and received for each journal title.

If a library requests an article from a magazine article that was not published within the last 5 years, this request would not be subject to copyright guidelines, so the library would indicate CCL compliance (Copyright Law) on the interlibrary loan form. There is no specific limit to the number of articles that a library may request from a magazine if those articles were published more than five years ago. The library is still subject to subsection 108(g)(2) of the copyright law that prohibits systematic photocopying of copyrighted materials in such aggregate quantities as to substitute for purchase of or subscription to the magazine.

In summary, the requesting library should indicate CCG for all articles requested that were published within the past five years or CCL for all articles requested that were published more than five years ago. A library must indicate CCG or CCL compliance on all interlibrary loan requests no matter how they submit those requests -- mail, fax or electronically.

Borrowing libraries are required by copyright guidelines to keep records for 3 years of all filled requests for photocopies articles published within the last five years -- all CCG requests. It is up to the borrowing library to keep track of the number of articles requested and received for each journal title.

(Source, Iowa State Library, used here with permission).