oct07c.indd


Andy Bridges W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

The impact of fair use on the U.S. 
economy 
A report recently released by the Computer 
and Communications Industry Association 
(CCIA) concludes that fair use, along with other 
copyright exemptions that libraries use, signifi ­
cantly contributes to the economic growth of 
the United States. 

The CCIA report categorizes libraries as one 
of the core fair use industries, which are defi ned 
as those “that produce goods and services 
whose activities depend in large measure on the 
existence of limitations and exceptions provided 
in U.S. copyright law.” Non­core industries 
include those facilitating the output of the fair 
use core. Institutions and companies in these 
sectors gain a significant amount of their work 
from the demand generated by fair use and are 
“interdependent with the core industries.” 

This is the first report that attempts to assess 
the value of fair use and, according to its fi nd­
ings, fair use industries have contributed a great 
deal to the economy, potentially even more so 
than the content industries. 

In an increasingly knowledge­based econ­
omy, first sale, preservation, replacement, and 
interlibrary loan practices enable libraries to 
thrive as an invaluable resource to communities 
adapting to rapid advances in information tech­
nology. Additionally, libraries’ use of Internet 
search engines, software, and other networked 
information spurs the growth of telecommunica­
tion, Internet service providers and Web­portal 
businesses, all of which are key members of the 
core fair use industries. 

Innovation and productivity in the fair uses 
industries must be preserved, a fact demonstrat­
ed by the CCIA report. The protection afforded 
to libraries and other institutions by fair use has 
been a primary contributing factor to economic 
gains over the last ten years. With sustained ad­
vocacy and support, the fair use industries will 
continue to prosper, stimulating growth as the 

Andy Bridges is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: abridges@alawash.org 

U.S. economy adapts to their creative approach 
to generating business and information. 

Open access 
As the U.S. Senate considers appropriations 
measures this fall for fiscal year (FY) 2008, 
please take a moment to remind your Senators 
of your strong support for public access to pub­
licly funded research and, specifi cally, ensuring 
the success of the National Institutes of Health 
(NIH) Public Access Policy by making deposit 
mandatory for researchers. 

Earlier this summer, the House of Repre­
sentatives passed legislation with language that 
directs NIH to make this change. The Senate 
Appropriations Committee approved a similar 
measure. Now, as the appropriations process 
moves forward, it is critically important that 
our Senators are reminded of the breadth and 
depth of support for enhanced public access to 
the results of NIH­funded research. Please take 
a moment to weigh in with your Senator now. 

A few talking points 
• American taxpayers are entitled to open 

access on the Internet to the peer­reviewed 
scientific articles on research funded by the 
U.S. government. Widespread access to the 
information contained in these articles is an es­
sential, inseparable component of our nation’s 
investment in science. 

• Over the more than two years since its 
implementation, NIH’s current voluntary policy 
has failed to achieve any of the agency’s stated 
goals, attaining a deposit rate of less than 5 
percent by individual researchers. A mandate 
is required to ensure deposit in NIH’s online 
archive of articles describing findings of all 
research funded by the agency. 

• The FY 2008 Labor/HHS Appropriations 
Bill reported out of committee contains language 
directing NIH to change its Public Access Policy 
so that it requires NIH­funded researchers to de­
posit copies of agency­funded research articles 
into the National Library of Medicine’s online 
archive. 

C&RL News October 2007  596 

mailto:abridges@alawash.org