Copyright

As you are doing research and looking for articles, you may find you want an article that the library does not have access to via its numerous subscriptions. There may be an urge to go to the publisher's website and pay money to get it immediately, typically costing $30 an article or more. Instead of using your money for this, send the citation to the library and we will research it and probably interlibrary loan (ILL) the request. We routinely order articles from other hospital libraries, university libraries and other medical school libraries all over the nation and in some cases, the world. The costs associated with ordering and delivering the article to you are already built into the library's budget, so taking advantage of the service saves you money. We can typically fill an article request within 3 to 5 days. If there is an immediate need, we can do a "Rush" or an "Urgent Patient Care" request  and receive it sooner -- typically within 24 hours. However, these services are more expensive and should be used very judiciously. Ordering from the library won't give you the instant satisfaction of getting the article immediately, but you will save money.

When you request an article, you will get an email from the librarians stating that the that the article is either free -- as we found it somewhere on the 'net -- or that it is on order for you. If it is on order and comes in, we will send you the article in a PDF format. The article is meant for your use only! Like other resources we have, you cannot share it with others electronically, post it on a website, etc. Doing so will require the library or the school to pay for additional copyright usage and single uses can quickly add up.

For instance, you request an article that was ordered from another library. When you get it, you find it's the one of the finest pieces you've ever read. You decide to share it with 15 colleagues, either by printing out 15 copies or by sharing it via a webpage, blog, a listserve, via an email, etc. To prevent the school being sued for copyright infringement, we would need to pay for those 15 other uses. 15 readers times $30 each is $450.00. If you had 100 readers, it would cost the school $3000.00 (!) for one shared article. Hopefully you can see how this could get out of control very quickly.

There are some ways to get around this. If it is an article the library already has access to via it's collection or it's an article that is truly free on the Internet, share the URL link instead. Sharing a link is not considered a copyright violation as long as it's coming a legitimate source.

You can also print a single hard copy of the article and leave it in your office for others to read. That is not considered a copyright violation as you aren't making additional copies to distribute.

ILL is a great part of the library's services to its patrons, but we have to be cognizant of the copyright law and how it affects us.

Every article that comes from the library will have a legal statement that comes with it.

Either its the short form:

"This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code)"

or the long form:

"The files included here may be protected under U.S. Copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) when governs reproduction, distribution, public display, and other certain other uses of protected works. Uses may be allowed with permission for the copyrights holder, if the copyright has expired, if the use is considered fair use or falls within another exception. The user of this work is responsible for determining lawful uses."

You also might see these statements on an electronic article:

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code.)

or

This material may be

protected by copyright law

(Title 17, U.S. Code)

These statements are required by law to be included on any article the library procures for a patron. Each statement means the same thing: that the person receiving the article understands that the article is for their use only and they will be held responsible should a copyright violation be discovered. It falls to all of us to use our resources efficiently and legally.

As always if you have any questions or concerns regarding copyright, please contact the library staff and we will be glad to help you out!