Title: Photocopying in the Library

Learning Objectives
- Understand the responsibilities of librarians and libraries when providing copying services and self-service copiers
- Demonstrate an understanding of the balance between rights holders and users of copyright-protected materials in a library setting
- Understand the role of Fair Dealing Guidelines and Copyright Notices in a library setting
- Recognize circumstances where a library user should consider conducting a fair dealing analysis

What is a library?
The Copyright Act defines a library as a non-profit institution that is open to the public or to researchers (s.2).

Copyright Anxiety Alert!
This bunny is confused about what is considered fair dealing and is experiencing copyright anxiety! Copyright anxiety can lead to copyright chill, which is when a fear of litigation prevents them from exercising their legal rights. A better understanding of fair dealing can help them make decisions with confidence.

What about the 10% rule?
You may have heard of the 10% rule, which is often referred to as a legally safe amount of a work to copy under fair dealing. However, this type of "bright line" rule is not found in copyright legislation. Instead, fair dealing is determined by a balancing test, not a bright line test. For example, in some cases copying less than 10% might not be fair and in other cases coping an entire work might be fair.

What are institutional guidlines?
Institutional copying guidelines inform employees about the extent of copying that will be supported by their employer. Library users are responsible for understanding how copyright law might apply to their copying (and thus not normally bound by institutional guidelines).

Choose the correct statement.

Credits: Photocopying in the Library; by University of Alberta; 2019; licence CC BY 4.0