ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


131

o f c o p y r ig h te d  m a te r ia ls  w ho w is h e d  to sta y  
u n d e r th e  u m b rella of p ro tectio n  offered by fair 
use. F o r this reason, th e  C opyright Act contains 
specific provisions w hich g ran t additional rights to 
lib raries and insulate em ployees of a non-profit 
educational institution, library, or archives from 
statutory dam ages for infringem ent w h ere th e  in ­
fringer b eliev ed  or had reasonable grounds to b e ­
lieve th e  photocopying was a fair use of th e m a te ­
rial. 17 U .S .C . §504(c)(2).

Norm ally, an infringer is liable to th e  copyright 
ow ner for th e  actual losses sustained because of 
the photocopying an d  any additional profits of th e 
infringor. 17 U .S .C . §504(a)(l) and (b). W h e re  
th e  m o netary losses are nom inal, th e  copyright 
o w n er usually will claim  sta tu to ry  dam ages in ­
stead  of the actual losses. 17 U .S .C . §504(a)(2) 
and (c). The statutory dam ages may reach as high 
as $10,000 (or up to $50,000 if th e  in frin gem en t is 
willful). In  addition to suing for m oney dam ages, 
a copyright ow ner can usually p re v e n t fu tu re in ­
frin g em en t th ro u g h  a co u rt injunction. 17 U .S .C . 
§502.

T h e C o p y rig h t Act specifically ex em p ts from  
statutory dam ages any em ployee of a non-profit 
educational institution, library, or archives, who 
“b eliev ed  and had reasonable grounds for b eliev ­
ing th at his or h e r use of th e  copyrighted work 
was a fair u se u n d e r  S ection  107.” 17 U .S .C . 
§504(c)(2). W hile th e  fair use provisions are ad ­
m ittedly am biguous, any em ployee who attem p ts 
to stay w ithin th e guidelines contained in this re ­
p o rt should have an ad eq u ate good faith defense 
in th e  case of an innocently co m m itted  infringe­
m ent.

I f  th e criteria contained in this re p o rt are fol­
low ed, it is o u r view th at no copyright infringe­
m en t will occur and th a t th e re  will b e no adverse 
affect on th e  m arket for copyrighted works.

(M any e d u c a tio n a l in s titu tio n s  w ill p ro v id e  
th e ir em p loyees legal counsel w ith o u t charge if 
an in frin gem en t suit is b ro u g h t against th e  e m ­
ployee for photocopying p erfo rm ed  in th e  course 
o f e m p lo y m e n t. I f  so, th is  s h o u ld  b e  n o te d  
h ere.) ■■

The View From HQ
Sandy W hiteley 

A CR L Program O fficer

Since joining ACRL in N ovem ber, 1981, as a 
half-tim e program  officer, I have had th e interim  
re s p o n sib ility  for th e  B ib lio g rap h ic In s tru c tio n  
L ia is o n  P r o je c t. By 
w o rk in g  w ith  n in e  
sc h o la rly  a ss o c ia tio n s , 
w e a re  tr y in g  to e d u ­
c a te  fa c u lty  a n d  a d ­
m in istra to rs a b o u t b ib ­
lio g r a p h ic  i n s t r u c t i o n  
(see C & RL N ew s, O c­
to b e r 1981, pp. 319-20).
T hese organizations are:
A m erican  A ssem bly  o f 
C o lle g ia te  S c h o o ls o f 
Business, A m erican As­
s o c ia tio n  fo r H ig h e r  
E d u c a t io n , A m e ric a n  Sandy W hiteley
Association for th e  A d­
v a n c e m e n t o f S c ie n c e , A m e ric a n  C o u n c il on 
E d u c a t io n , A m e ric a n  H is to r ic a l A s s o c ia tio n , 
Am erican Political Science Association, A m erican 
Psychological Association, A m erican Sociological 
Association, and th e M odern Language Associa­
tion.

In M arch and A pril, librarians will be giving 
w o rk s h o p s  on lib r a r y  sk ills in  s o c io lo g y  fo r 
sociologists a tten d in g  six regional m eetings of the 
A m erican Sociological Association. T he librarians 
will a tte m p t to have th e  p articipating sociologists

m ak e a c o n n e c tio n  b e t w e e n  w h a t th e y  h a v e  
learn ed  in th e  w orkshop and w hat th e ir stu d en ts 
n e e d  to learn— leading, we hope, to o p portunities 
for bibliographic instruction  on th e ir hom e cam ­
puses.

O u r proposal to th e  A m erican Association for 
H igher E ducation for a program  at th e ir annual 
m eeting was not accepted. W e did not subm it a 
proposal to th e  A m erican Psychological Associa­
tion because I was unable to find anyone to do a 
program  for them . I w ould very m uch appreciate 
hearing from som eone w ith a background in b ib ­
liographic instruction in psychology (especially an 
APA m e m b e r  o r s o m e o n e  w ith  a P h .D . in 
psychology) w ho w ould be w illing to p re p a re  a 
proposal for next y ear’s m eeting.

W e are now p rep arin g  for th e  proposal d e a d ­
lines for th e  A m erican Council on E ducation and 
th e M odern Language Association. W e know the 
m eetin g  places and dates and proposal deadlines 
for th e  rem aining five organizations and will p ro ­
ceed w ith th em  as tim e p erm its.

W e co n tinu e to b u ild  o u r resource file of lib rar­
ians w ith exp erience in bibliographic instruction 
who are willing to w rite proposals and give pa­
p ers at th e m eetings of professional associations. I 
w rote to all th e com m ittee m em bers of th e  Bib­
liographic In stru ctio n  Section and th e  A nthropol­
ogy and Sociology Section, soliciting participation 
in th e  p roject, and I w ould like to thank all the 
people who have resp o n d ed . W e will be getting 
back to all of you eventually an d  we w ould still 
be happy to receive m ore nam es.



132

To d e te rm in e  th e  fu tu re of th e  p roject, an ad ­
visory co m m ittee has b e e n  form ed. T he co m m it­
te e , ch aired  by Sharon Rogers, is exploring o th e r 
ways in w hich th e  p ro ject can b e  com pleted. T he 
p ro ject will be carried  out u n til its conclusion in 
August, 1983, b u t at this tim e it h asn ’t b e e n  d e ­
c id e d  w h e th e r  it w ill b e  d o n e  by  staff in th e  
ACRL office or by som eone h ire d  in th e W ash­
ington area w h ere m ost of th e  nine organizations 
have th e ir h e a d q u a rte rs.

W e have le a rn e d  a lot about o th e r professional 
o rg a n iz a tio n s from  th is p ro je c t. M ost o f th e m  
have loose m em b ersh ip  re q u ire m e n ts (like ALA) 
b u t som e, like th e  A m erican Psychological As­
sociation, are q u ite rigid. T h e APA, for instance, 
re q u ire s e ith e r a P h .D . in psychology or a com ­
p arab le n u m b e r of years as a practicing psycholo­
gist. This m akes it difficult for librarians to p a r­
tic ip a te , an d  w e m u st find faculty m e m b e rs to 
sponsor o u r program s. Some organizations have 
very elaborate p ro c e d u re s for su b m ittin g  program  
proposals w hile others only re q u ire  a le tte r to th e 
program  chair. I have discovered th a t librarians 
have b e e n  p articip atin g  in som e of th e se  organi­
zations (notably th e  A m erican H istorical Associa­
tion and th e M o d ern  L anguage Association) for 
m any years and are continuing to do so. W e w ant 
to coordinate o u r efforts. If you are going to give 
a p a p e r on bibliographic in structio n  at a regional 
or n ational m e e tin g  of a scholarly organization, 
please le t this office know. Also, som e of you are 
publishing articles on bibliographic in structio n  in 
th e journals o f scholarly associations. Please let us 
know ab o u t th e se  too.

M uch of th e  re s t of my tim e is tak en up w ith 
advisory services to academ ic librarians, college 
a n d  u n iv e rsity  a d m in istra to rs, a n d  m e m b e rs of 
th e  g en eral public. Som e of th e  kinds of q u e s­
tions w hich are receiv ed  at th e  ACRL office daily 
include:

O u r college is going to b e accred ited — do you 
have any standards for college libraries?

W h e re  can I find statistics on com m unity col­
lege libraries?

W e are looking for a sp eak er for our conference 
on co n tinu in g  education.

I am  a g rad u ate s tu d e n t at th e  U n iv ersity  of 
G h e n t and  I n e e d  books on M ark Twain.

W hat is th e  tre n d  in faculty status for lib ra r­
ians?

C an you sen d  m e inform ation a b o u t ex tern al 
u ser fees in libraries?

W h e re  can I g e t in fo rm a tio n  a b o u t d is a s te r 
p re p a re d n e ss in libraries?

Are th e re  any stan d ard  forms for u se r surveys?
Are th e re  standards for cu rricu lu m  cen ters?
H ow  do I go ab o u t re n tin g  th e  ACRL m e m ­

b ersh ip  list?
I use th e  H e a d q u a rte rs L ibrary to find answ ers 

to som e of th ese questions b u t som e of th e  b e st 
a n sw e rs com e from  A C R L  m e m b e rs . W h e n  a 
q u estio n  relates to an area w h ere ACRL has a

section or co m m ittee, I often call th a t chair for 
advice.

I am also in charge o f m aintaining th e  L ib ra r­
ian Exchange and C o n su ltan t E xchange Program s 
(see C & RL N ew s, J u ly -A u g u s t 1981, p. 206). 
Alas, we have had very little respo nse to e ith e r of 
th e se  program s.

O th e r m iscellaneous d u ties of m ine have b e e n  
th e  p r e lim in a r y  s e le c tio n  fo r th e  A C R L /N E H  
W orkshops, p ro m o tin g  th e re c e n t ACRL p u b lica­
tion Libraries and Accreditation in Institutions o f  
H igher Education, drafting item s for co n sid e ra ­
tion by th e  ACRL Board, and w h atev er else th e  
executive d irecto r delegates.

My own ex p erien ce has b e e n  lim ited  to work 
in university libraries so I am enjoying th e  o p p o r­
tu n ity  to le a rn  m o re a b o u t c o m m u n ity  co lleg e 
an d  college libraries. I have especially en jo y ed  
g ettin g  to know  so m any ACRL m em b ers, even if 
only over th e  p h o n e or th ro u g h  th e  mail, and am 
v ery  ap preciative of th e assistance given m e by 
th e  m em bersh ip . ■ ■