The End of Fair Use? Pat Schroeder and Publishers Go After Libraries

February 13, 2001 10:04 AM

The End of Fair Use? Pat Schroeder and Publishers Go After Libraries "Of all the dangerous and dot-complex problems that American publishers face in the near future — economic downturns, competition for leisure time, piracy — perhaps the most explosive one could be libraries. Publishers and librarians are squaring off for a battle royal over the way electronic books and journals are lent out from libraries and over what constitutes fair use of written material."
posted by timothompson (7 comments total)

Isn't the solution to all these e-media issues (Napster included) a micro-pay system that works?
posted by jpoulos at 10:14 AM on February 13, 2001

I love this sort of thing. The publishers all want "their" money, but getting them to pay copyright royalites to the writers is like getting blood from a stone.

In Canada, Micromedia was sued for just such a tactic. They charged libraries for access, but did not pay royalties to the writers.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 10:40 AM on February 13, 2001

"dot-complex"? How cute.
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:27 AM on February 13, 2001

Isn't the solution to all these e-media issues (Napster included) a micro-pay system that works?

Like this one, you mean?
posted by holgate at 1:22 PM on February 13, 2001

That idea makes sense to me, holgate. I like that the authors get the dough, not the publishers. The publishers produce the actual books, and they sell them to the library. Users of the library don't get the books themselves, just the knowledge contained therein, which comes from the authors.

There's a great analogy to be made to Napster. If I want a CD of 'Nsync music, I'll buy one from the record label. But if I just want the music contained therein, my money should go directly to the artist. It's a pipe dream, of course, but that's what I'd like to see.
posted by jpoulos at 1:50 PM on February 13, 2001

I dont get this article at all. Libraries do inter-library loans between each other if someone needs a particular book or journal but they can't just copy a whole journal or book and send it to another one - copyright law prevents that, and if they violate copyright law they can get in big trouble.

How do electronic journals and books work? With journals I assume the library will pay the subscription which allows them to view it online and maybe print it out for use in their library? If thats the case then I'd assume libraries would still be bound by the same copyright laws as a normal print journal.

Anyway - most of this article was barely even about the topic of the battle between publishers and libraries - it was more about this Patricia Schroeder woman. I would have been far more interested in the details of what she is going on about.
posted by endorwitch at 9:09 PM on February 13, 2001

Anyway - most of this article was barely even about the topic of the battle between publishers and libraries - it was more about this Patricia Schroeder woman.

and kissing her ass about how brave she is to go up against libraries -- which are not as universally revered as they seem to think, with Christian "family" groups after them for offering Internet access. Our libraries' operating millage got voted down the first time.

Yeah. It wasn't a very good article.
posted by dagnyscott at 6:19 AM on February 14, 2001