CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES - January 2012

Oct 16, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries (January 2012) outlines how academic and research librarians can apply the fair use doctrine when working with copyrighted materials. It explains fair use as a right to use copyrighted works without permission or payment under certain circumstances, emphasizing evaluation of facts, law, and community norms. The document’s development process reflects surveys and discussions, with expert review, while noting that it is not legal advice. It presents best-practice principles for typical library use scenarios.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

How this document was created

What this is

CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES JANUARY 2012 CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES JANUARY 2012 COORDINATORS Association of Research Libraries Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law, American University CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES January 2012 INTRODUCTION The mission of academic and research librarians is to enable teaching, learning, and research.1 Along with serving current faculty, researchers, and students (especially graduate students), these librarians also serve the general public, to whom academic and research libraries are often open. Finally, academic and research librarians are committed to faculty, researchers, and students of the future, who depend on the responsible collection, curation, and preservation of materials over time. Copyright law affects the work of academic and research librarians pervasively and in complex ways, because the great bulk of these librarians’ work deals with accessing, storing, exhibiting, or providing access to copyrighted material. The rights of copyright holders create incentives for the publication of important work that forms the core of library collections, while at the same time constraining academic and research librarians in the exercise of their mission. Similarly, limitations on and exceptions to copyright rights enable academic and research librarians to use copyrighted materials in important ways, but impose limits and responsibilities of their own. In addition to specific exceptions for libraries and educators, academic and research librarians use the important general exemption of fair use to accomplish their mission. Fair use is the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment under some circumstances, especially when the cultural or social benefits of the use are predominant. It is a general right that applies even—and especially—in situations where the law provides no specific statutory authorization for the use in question. Consequently, the fair use doctrine is described only generally in the law, and it is not tailored to the mission of any particular community. Ultimately, determining whether any use is likely to be considered “fair” requires a thoughtful evaluation of the facts, the law, and the norms ofthe relevant community. 1. This code was developed by and for academic and research librarians. While some of the ideas and principles in the code may be helpful to librarians in other contexts, any reference to “librarians” in this document refers to academic and research librarians, not to all librarians. CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES HOW THIS DOCUMENT WAS CREATED The first step in creating this code was to conduct an in-depth survey, using longform interviews, with 65 librarians at a diverse array of academic and research institutions in the United States, from Ivy League colleges to rural satellite campuses. The results demonstrated clearly both that fair use is an essential component of copyright exemptions for librarians, and also that they lacked a clear sense of what they and their peers might agree to as appropriate employment of fair use in recurrent situations.2 As a result, librarians frequently did not use their fair use rights when they could have, and they overestimated the level of conflict between the strictures of copyright law on the one hand and their respective libraries’ missionson the other. The cost of this uncertainty was amplified because many research and academic librarians routinely act as the de facto arbiters of copyright practice for their institutions and the constituencies they serve. Working librarians with many different institutio

FAQs

What is the purpose of this code for academic and research libraries?

It provides best-practice guidance on fair use for the library community, documenting considered views drawn from actual library practices and experience.

How does the document describe fair use and how should it be evaluated?

Fair use is described as the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment in certain circumstances, and whether a use is fair requires thoughtful evaluation of facts, law, and relevant community norms.

How was this code created and reviewed?

The code was developed through an in-depth survey of librarians and series of small group discussions, then reviewed by an outside panel of distinguished copyright experts. The document also clarifies it is not intended as legal advice.

Oct 16, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo