S tedm an E d ito r s note: John C. Stedm an is em eritus p ro fe sso r o f law, U niversity o f W isconsin-M adison, a n d chair o f the AAUP C om m ittee on C opyright Law. This article appears in a slightly modified f o r m in AA UP B u lletin 64:142-49 (S e p te m b e r 1978). I n t r o d u c t io n T he n u m b er of questions librarians have about th e new copyright legislation and its application to lib ra ry o p e ra tio n s is e x c e e d e d only by th e am o u n t of inform ation

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... lable about th e new law. Answers to questions are not easily obtained, and librarians have becom e increasingly wary of advocacy d o cu m en ts such as th e Association of A m erican P u b lish ers' recently pub lish ed P hoto copying b y A cadem ic' Public and N onprofit Re search Libraries and its earlier P hotocopying by C o r p o ra te L ib ra r ie s. A lth o u g h b o th o f th e s e d o c u m e n ts p u r p o r t to b e e x p la n a to ry o f th e C opyright Act o f 1976 as it applies to libraries, th ey contain m any m isrep resen tatio n s an d offer m isleading guidance to librarians. B e c a u se o f th e im p o rta n c e o f th e to p ic to academ ic lib rarian s and th e n eed for objective analysis, C & R L N ews has published several ar ticles on copyright and reserve operations during th e past m onths. This m ost recen t addition to the l i t e r a tu r e , w r itte n b y Jo h n C . S te d m a n , an e m e ritu s p ro fesso r o f law at th e U n iv ersity of W isconsin-M adison, sheds som e additional light on several com plex reserve-copyright issues. Pro fessor S te d m a n 's reaso n ab le an d o b jectiv e d is c u s sio n s o f s e c tio n s 108 a n d 107 a n d th e G uidelines f o r C lassroom C opying should assist lib rarian s in in te rp re tin g co p y rig h t legislation. A rm ed with this article and th e m aterial issued in th e A m erican L ib rary A ssociation s L ib ra ria n s C o p y r ig h t K it, lib ra ria n s s h o u ld h a v e little d ifficu lty in fin d in g a n sw ers to m any of th e ir copyright q u estio n s. D oes th e com m on, an d academ ically im p o r tant, p ractice of photocopying copyrighted m ate rials and p u ttin g them on "reserv e" for usage by stu d en ts co nstitute copyright infringem ent? The atten tio n this question has received is exceeded o n ly b y th e in c o n c lu siv e n e ss o f th e an sw ers. © 1978, Am erican Association of U niversity Pro fessors Som e com m entators are su re th at it constitutes infringem ent; others are equally sure that it does not. T he following com m ents attem p t to search out th e line betw een perm issible and im perm is sible photocopying for such purposes and to spell out th e considerations th at suggest perm issibility in m ost instances. "R eserves," for purposes of this discussion, are defined as selected w ritings m ade available to in dividual and successive students for educational purposes, subject to sharp tim e lim itations and, usually, restrictions on physical rem oval from the lib rary p rem ises. T h e copyright issue does not arise except w ith respect to copyrighted m aterials that have b een copied w ithout th e express or im plied consent of th e copyright owner. N or is the p re se n t discussion concerned w ith libraries that are connected w ith com m ercial organizations, or th e possible liability of persons o th er than the li braries or teach er-for instance, stu d e n ts-who e n g a g e in u n a u th o r iz e d p h o to c o p y in g on u n supervised copying m achines (see section 108[f]). In short, we are co n cern ed h ere only w ith the teach er-or the library acting upon the teach er's req u est or on its own initiative-w ho makes, or has m ade, th e u n au th o rized copies in question and who places them on reserve. Since such practice involves a "copying" w ithin the m eaning of th e copyright law, it constitutes infringem ent (see section 106[1]) unless such use is p erm itted by section 107 or 108.1 S e c t io n 108-L ib r a r y P h o t o c o p y in g It is logical (if not chronological) to start with section 108 rath er than 107, since it is the nar row er and m ore specific of the two. T he stru ctu re of section 108 is q u ite com plex. Subsections (b) through (e) set o ut th e circum stances in which photocopying is perm itted , nam ely, for purposes of preservation or restoration (subsections [b] and [c]) or to com ply w ith th e req u est of a user (sub sections [d] and [e]). Subsections (b) and (c) are not relevan t to th e p resen t discussion, b ut sub sections (d) and (e) are. Subsection (d) perm its a lib rary , at th e re q u e s t o f a u se r, to pro v id e a copy from its or an o th er library's collection "of no m ore than one article or o th er contribution to a copyrighted collection or periodical issue, or ... of a small part of any o th er copyrighted w ork," p rovided (1) th e copy becom es th e p ro p erty of th e user, (2) th e library has no notice that it is to b e u se d " for any p u r p o s e o th e r th a n p riv a te s tu d y , s c h o la rs h ip , o r r e s e a r c h ," an d (3) th e lib ra ry d is p la y s o r in c lu d e s a " w a rn in g of c o p y rig h t." S ubsection (e) p e rm its a lib rary to