The legality of course packs produced through University departments or the Gnomon Copy Shop on Boston Avenue for purchase by Tufts students has recently come under scrutiny.
Under Fair Use, a section of copyright law governing the rights of individuals and organizations who seek to reproduce work for educational and nonprofit purposes, individuals must weigh four factors in determining whether or not to copy work.
While the law stipulates that copying must be done for educational purposes, the nature of the work, the amount of work copied, and the predicted effect on the work's value must be taken into consideration as well.
If a professor determines that making copies does not constitute fair use according to these four factors, he or she must contact the publisher to obtain permission to copy the material. University policy specifies that each faculty member is responsible for carefully following these guidelines individually.
According to Director of the Tisch Library Jo-Ann Michalak, no cases of copyright infraction have been brought to the University's attention. The University does have a Fair Use Task Force and "the library staff was charged with educating the faculty about their copyrighting use," she said.
Michalak said that the Task Force has monitored other schools' policies and "we think [Tufts' policy is] fairly proactive. I do think there are a few that are more rigorous, but not very many."
Professor Melissa Wender of the German, Russian, and Asian Languages & Literature Department said that she previously worked at an institution with very strict copyright policies, where faculty members were required to obtain publisher permissions for almost everything used.
"The course packs would be so expensive that no student would ever buy them -and that's something I have come up against again and again while teaching," she said. With all publisher permissions obtained, she said, course packs would run from $70 to $100.
"That resulted, as far as I could tell, in fewer students actually completing the readings," she said. Wender said she now puts articles on reserve at the library.
Professor Emeritus Hugo Adam Bedau of the Philosophy Department said he is not using a course pack this semester for the first time in over a decade. Previously, he said he copied course packs at Gnomon. "I'm a multiple recidivist on this issue," he said.
Bedau said he does not know whether or not he is for or against the reproduction of copyrighted materials. "At the present time I'm sort of on the fence, and to dodge the whole issue was one of the reasons why I got these expensive books for my class instead," he said.
Eileen Keddy, a Gnomon employee for over eight years estimates that approximately 80 percent of the store's business comes from creating course packs. Gnomon policy, she said, is that "if the professors want us to copy it, then we do."
The store does, however, require that professors sign a waiver absolving Gnomon of legal responsibility for the photocopying of copyrighted materials.
Gnomon Copy Shop will seek publisher permissions for professors if asked to do so, but need such materials to be submitted about six months in advance. Keddy said professors "very rarely" request that.
"It will jack up the prices of the packets so that they are extremely high," she said. The cost of a single copyright permission, she said, runs at around $25, which goes into the cost of the packet.
She also said that professors sometimes attempt to obtain permission, but "a lot of times [the publishers] just don't get back to you - the professor tries to do the right thing and it doesn't work."
History Professor Gary Leupp said he does not produce course packs at Gnomon, but copies material for the class as he needs it. He said that he does consider Fair Use law when doing so, but has never needed to obtain publisher permissions when copying.
"The stuff that I use tends to be so old and so public domain that it doesn't seem applicable," he said.
There are several alternatives to creating course packets that others professors prefer. Professors may put copies of articles on reserve at the library, although if they do so for more than one semester, publisher permission must be obtained.
According to Michalak, this option has been heavily used, though its popularity has recently declined. In her opinion, this may be due to the fact that more professors are using Blackboard to post information.
Michalak and University Senior Counsel Martin Oppenheimer recently presented a reminder of these policies to faculty at an Arts, Sciences, and Engineering faculty meeting. Additionally, a memo outlining the policies is set to be sent out to all schools in the University.
During the presentation, University President Lawrence Bacow urged those present to remember his "Golden Rule."
"Most of us are on both sides of this transaction," Bacow said, referring to the fact that faculty not only reproduce others' work but often publish work themselves.
Some faculty members voiced a desire to "push back" at publishers during the meeting. They were urged to consider retaining the rights to work they publish by adding wording into publisher agreement forms. Individuals who do not retain the copyrights to their work must seek publisher permission to copy their own material.
Michalak said that the University Counsel would have to review the faculty's desire to "push back."
"But we are certainly trying to have an aggressive interpretation of fair use," she said.
