Three Assumptions Regarding Section 110 of the Copyright Law
1) "the library reserve room may be considered an extension of the classroom"
2) "students enrolled in a class have the educational right to aurally access its assigned musical works both in the classroom and through class reserves"
3) "the dubbing or digital copying of musical works for class reserves falls within the spirit of the fair use provision of the copyright law" (*MLA Website or Griscom, 535)

Practical Guidelines - Seeing online reserves as an extension of the classroom and protected under fair use the Music Library Association supports the creation and transmission of digital audio file copies of copyrighted recordings of musical works for course reserves purposes, under the following conditions:

• Access to such digital copies must be through library-controlled equipment and campus-restricted networks.
• Access to digital copies from outside of the campus should be limited to individuals who have been authenticated: namely, students enrolled either in a course or in formal independent study with an instructor in the institution.
• Digital copies should be made only of works that are being taught in the course or study.
• Digital copies may be made of whole movements or whole works.
• Either the institution or the course instructor should own the original that is used to make the digital file.
• The Library should make a good faith effort to purchase a commercially available copy of anything that is provided by the instructor.
• The library should remove access to the files at the completion of the course. The library may store course files for future re-use. This includes the digital copy made from an instructor's original if the library has made a good faith effort to purchase its own copy commercially. MLA Website

According to Griscom's 2002 DML survey almost all of the 42 schools who responded are using streaming technology and have password protected or on-campus only access. One troubling and very questionable practice was that 4 libraries were actually digitizing audio files off of recordings that were either not owned by their library or from anthologies originally created to be purchased by students. In clauses of the fair use provision such practices are prohibited.

In summary, libraries should make sure to use streaming audio technology, own what they are making available online, and avoid using selections from commercially sold anthologies.

Also be aware that when one goes beyond merely offering digital audio reserves, copyright issues become more problematic. "Other aspects of digitizing music, such as enhancing access to music audio outside of the electronic reserves context through hyperlinks embedded in the library's online catalog [i.e. the Variations system at Indiana University], are not covered" by the Music Library Association's guidelines.

*"The American Library Association's "Model Policy Concerning College and University Photocopying for Classroom, Research and Library Reserve Use" (C&RL News (April 1982): 127-131), as drafted by Mary Hutchins, states the view that the library reserve room may be considered an extension of the classroom. The Music Library Association fully supports this view as well as the consequent view that students enrolled in a class have the educational right to aurally access its assigned musical works both in the classroom and through class reserves. The MLA also believes that the dubbing or digital copying of musical works for class reserves falls within the spirit of the fair use provision of the copyright law." MLA Website

©May 2003 Jana Marion Borchardt - This is an MLS independent study project done for the School of Library and Information Management - Emporia State University Email any comments or critiques to the webmaster