ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


125

 a n d  a s s is ta n c e  th e y  h a v e  r e c e iv e d  on 
copyright issues from th eir professional organiza­
tions? Sixty-four libraries w anted ACRL to p ro ­
vide additional, basic information with a focus on 
academ ic libraries.

In spite of the large n u m b er of libraries who 
have a p rin ted  copyright policy in effect (25 li­
braries supplied a copy of th eir policy and p e r­
mission to reproduce it), 49 libraries want ACRL 
to take an active role in clarifying or responding 
to public statem ents concerning copyright and li­
braries. A fair n u m b er of com m ents highlighted a 
continuing uncertainty about library reserve op­
erations and photocopying and asked for m ore 
guidance on these issues.

Thirty-eight libraries felt that ALA and ACRL 
had done a good jo b  of k eep in g  lib rarian s in ­
form ed through published m aterials and confer­
ence program s. Some m ade the point that we are 
an information hungry profession with new librar­
ians coming into the profession all th e tim e and, 
therefore, our educational efforts m ust be ongo­
ing and continuous.

In sum m ary, survey results show that academ ic 
libraries have m ade a serious and continuing ef­
fort to comply with the spirit and the le tte r of the 
New C opyright Law. C ontrary to often rep eated  
claims m ade by the Association of American P u b ­
lishers, many academ ic libraries have increased 
th eir journal holdings to comply with the law and 
som e hav e re fu se d  re q u e s ts  from  u sers w hich 
w ent beyond the limits suggested by the CONTU 
G uidelines. Although they have some uneasiness 
about copyright issues which rem ain unresolved, 
academic librarians have found th e ir academic in­
s titu tio n s  an d  th e ir  p ro fe ssio n a l o rg an izatio n s 
ready and willing to offer guidance and support. 
Although no longer th e “burn in g  issue” it once 
was in 1978, copyright is a topic of extrem e im ­
portance to the library com m unity and librarians 
want to be inform ed about copyright issues on a 
continuing basis.

A review  of th e 27 copyright policies subm itted 
by various colleges and u n iv ersities points out 
once again the need  to rem ind librarians to exer­
cise th eir full rights of “fair use” u n d er th e law. 
F or the most part, the policies did a good job of 
inform ing c o n stitu e n c ie s of th e  basic r e q u ir e ­
m en ts of th e  N ew  C o p y rig h t Law and various 
guidelines, and stayed away from interpretation. 
However, in nearly every policy, th e most con­
s e rv a tiv e  i n te r p r e ta tio n  o f p h o to c o p y in g  p o s ­
sibilities was offered, often in a cautionary or 
foreboding tone. Very few policies encouraged li­
brary users to exercise th eir full fair use rights 
and very few policies gave evidence that librar­
ians w ere exercising th e ir fair use rights to the 
fullest extent. The ALA m odel policy p rin ted  in 
this issue offers a m ore generous in terp retatio n  
of rights and responsibilities, one which librarians 
would do well to adopt. ■ ■

Letter
Think Tank

To the Editor:
As a lib ra ria n  c u r r e n tly  e n g a g e d  in b ib lio ­

graphic in stru c tio n , I found th e  article “Think 
Tank Recom m endations for Bibliographic In stru c­
tio n ” in the D ecem b er issue quite stim ulating. 
Surely, however, th ere is a m isprint in one of its 
statem ents. On page 397, u n d er Section V, Sub­
section C, th e text reads: “Effective bibliographic 
i n s tr u c tio n  c o n t r i b u t e s  to s t u d e n t s ’ m is u n ­
d e r s t a n d in g  o f th e  n a t u r e  o f l e a r n in g  a n d  
sc h o la rs h ip ...” And all this tim e I th o u g h t we 
w e re  try in g  to re m o v e  t h e i r  m i s u n d e r ­
standing!—Marie E. D evine, Instructional Ser­
vices Librarian, University o f  North Carolina at 
Asheville.

E ditor s Note: Thank you f o r  pointing out this 
typographic error. How it got past my proofread­
ing, I ju st don’t misunderstand. ■ ■

M ore Fallacies 
o f Librarianship

ACRL has receiv ed  suggestions for a few 
m ore fallacies to be ad d ed  to the list appear­
ing in C &RL News, January 1982, p. 13:

21. The com puter and data bases will solve 
all information problem s.

22. The com puter and data bases can solve 
none of our information problem s.

23. G rants are free.
24. S helf brow sing is u n im p o rtan t for the 

serious scholar.
25. Users bring th e ir reference questions to 

the Reference Desk.
26. D irectional questions are not reference 

questions.
27. The system  used before was preferable 

to the one recently adopted.
28. The quality of the bibliographic record 

is m ore im portant than its production.
29. C e n tr a liz e d  p ro c e s s in g  is alw ays 

cheaper than decentralized operations.
30. D ata base services will be ab u sed  by 

users if charges are not affixed.
The contributors of th ese suggestions are: 

William Brace, Rosary College; Alice F. Dal­
bey, Dom inican College of San Rafael; Justine 
R oberts, U niversity of California, San F ra n ­
cisco; a n d  L. Y vonne W ulff, U n iv e rsity  of 
Michigan.