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- Table of Contents -

Introduction to the online version

Chapter 1 – The Commission and Its Recommendations

Chapter 2 – The Establishment, Mandate, and Activities of the Commission

Chapter 3 – Computers and Copyright

Chapter 4 – Machine Reproduction – Photocopying

- Recommendations of the Commission

- Recommendation for Amending One Area of the 1976 Copyright Act

- Recommendations Concerning the Five-Year Review of Photocopying Practices

- Recommendations to Publishers

- Recommendations to Government Agencies

- Provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act Affecting Photocopying

- CONTU Guidelines on Photocopying under Interlibrary Loan Arrangements

- Volume of Library Photocopying in 1976

- Means of Obtaining Permission to Make Photocopies or to Obtain Authorized Copies under the 1976 Copyright Act

- Interrelated Economics of Publishing and Libraries and the Impact of Copying Fees

- Legislation and Systems Relating to Photocopying in Other Countries

- Recommendations of Interested Organizations

- Effects of Future Technological Change

Chapter 5 – Summary

Appendix A – Summary of the Legislative History of Computer-Related Issues and the Photocopy Issue

Appendix B – Public Law 93-573 and Public Law 95-146

Appendix C – Commissioners

Appendix D – Staff

Appendix E – Lists of Witnesses

Appendix F – Alphabetical Listing of Persons Appearing before the Commission

Appendix G – Transcripts of Commission Meetings

Appendix H – Summaries of Commission-Sponsored Studies

Appendix I – Bibliography

Appendix J – Selected Provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 and Copyright Office Regulations

Full table of contents

PDF version of the report

Picture of commissioners and staff

Final Report of the National Commission on New Technology Uses of Copyrighted Works

Chapter 4 – Machine Reproduction – Photocopying

Recommendations to Publishers

Publishers, especially publishers of journals, in cooperation with the library community, the Copyright Office, and the Library of Congress, should exert every effort to facilitate the deter­mination of the copyright status of both current and older issues of their publications. A large portion of periodical issues copyrighted under the provisions of the 1909 Act have not been renewed and are in the public domain. In addi­tion, the Fry/White/Johnson study undertaken for the Commission showed that publishers of many scholarly journals are willing to permit libraries – especially nonprofit libraries - to photocopy beyond the limits established by sections 107 and 108 of the 1976 Act.209

Publishers might inform the public of the copyright status of journal issues in several ways. Journal publishers could display prominently the copyright notice if they wish to protect their copyright and could include information in their current issues concerning the copyright status of back issues. Whether or not published with a copyright notice, every journal issue could carry a statement of policy with respect to copying. For example, several of the journals published by the American Library Association carry the following statement:

All material in this journal subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be photocopied for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement.

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It would be helpful if the Register of Copy­rights and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) would bring together representatives of journal publishers, authors, and library organizations to work out various forms of standard language providing the type of information suggested.

Every issue of a journal could display promi­nently a statement of participation (or non-participation) in copying clearance arrange­ments, such as the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), and could, in addition, indicate where and at what cost copies of articles or back issues may be obtained. If the publisher permits copying beyond that allowed by the 1976 Act, the publisher should so include that information in the statement.

Each issue of a journal should contain the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) assigned by the Serial Records Division of the Library of Congress. This inclusion would fa­cilitate the determination of the copyright status of periodical articles by computerized on-line systems.210 Users of copyrighted works will also benefit if organizations that authorize copying for a stated fee, such as CCC, include in their catalogs information on the copyright status of older issues similar to that suggested for incorporation in each journal issue, and informa­tion concerning where and at what cost author­ized copies may be obtained.211

Next section: Recommendations to Government Agencies

209 See note 231.

210 The Copyright Office registration form TX for periodical issues published after December 31, 1977, includes a place for the insertion of the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). The U.S. Postal Service and the Library of Congress have agreed as a general rule to have the ISSN printed in each issue of second-class publications instead of the separate and different identification number now used by the Postal Service. 43Fed. Reg. 29943.

211 The chairman of the Copyright Clearance Cen­ter, in a letter dated April 14, 1978, informed the Commission that the center intended to “request publishers for information on the copyright status of older journals, and include information received in catalogues to be published in the future.”