ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Publishers Settle Suit with Copy Service

Seven publishers and a campus copying company have settled a copyright infringement case filed by the publishers in federal district court. The suit alleged that the Gnomon Corporation, which operates photocopy services near four college campuses, had been reproducing copyrighted materials from books and periodicals without permission.

The settlement agreement, signed by a judge of the federal district court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, prohibits Gnomon from making more than one copy of a published work for the same person or group except under the following conditions: (1) Gnomon or the person requesting copies must obtain permission from the copyright owner; (2) a teacher at a nonprofit educational institution may request copies by certifying that the request complies with the March 19, 1976 “Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying in Not-for-Profit Educational Institutions with Respect to Books and Periodicals.” (The Guidelines are part of the legislative history of the Copyright Act of 1976.)

The agreement requires Gnomon to keep records of written permissions and certifications and allows the publishers access to Gnomon’s business premises to inspect the permissions and certifications for compliance.

The American Association of Publishers, which supported the suit by the seven publishers, announced following the settlement that it would now step up efforts to monitor activities of other commercial copiers, the in-house photocopying done by large for-profit corporations, and the practices of not-for-profit institutions.

The publishers association said in a statement that if voluntary compliance by commercial copiers offering services similar to Gnomon’s were not forthcoming, “it can be expected that additional lawsuits will be commenced.”

What about libraries? The AAP says it “expects that similar infringing photocopying activities by not-for-profit institutions will voluntarily be brought within legal bounds. In this regard, AAP has been gratified by the response from many representatives of the university community who have announced their disapproval of practices such as Gnomon’s and the desire of their institutions to act within proper legal limits. AAP is already pursuing the matter of voluntary

In this issue:

Publishers Settle Suit with Copy Service 161

Continuing Education:

Getting Quality

for the Price 164

Professional Survival:

Crowd of Strangers:

ALA Conferences 165

The Rare Book Librarian …. 166

Letters 167

ACRL Chapters 168

News from the Field 170

People 173

Publications 179

Calendar 183

Classified Advertising 186

compliance with universities and expects to step up the intensity of these activites now that the Gnomon case has satisfactorily been settled.”

The four copying facilities owned by the Gnomon Corporation are located near Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Pennsylvania State Universities. The seven publishers that brought the suit were Basic-Books—Harper & Row; CBS, Inc.—Holt, Rinehart & Winston; McGraw-Hill; Nelson-Hall; Prentice-Hall; Princeton University Press; and John Wiley & Sons. ■■

ACRL RECEPTION IN NEW YORK

The ACRL reception at the New York Conference will be held at Low Rotunda, Columbia University, on Tuesday July 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The reception will follow the ACRL membership and program meetings (2:00 to 5:30 p.m.) in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

What is the best way to travel from the Waldorf-Astoria to the Columbia campus? Your best bet may be to share a taxi. New York cabs charge only for the ride, not for extra passengers. If you can squeeze three or four passengers into your cab, you may be able to keep your share of the fare under $2.

Have the cab take you to one of the main Columbia University gates—either at Broadway and 116th Street or at Amsterdam and 116th Street. On the Columbia campus, 116th Street becomes College Walk. If you enter the campus at either the Broadway or Amsterdam gates and proceed down College Walk, you will soon come to the Low Rotunda—standing directly across from the Butler Library.

If you prefer to take a bus, walk one block from the Waldorf-Astoria (across Park Avenue) to Madison Avenue. There, you can catch a Madison Avenue bus (number four) to 116th Street and Riverside Drive and walk two blocks to the campus gate at 116th and Broadway.

If your starting point is one of the Sixth Avenue hotels, you can take the M-5 bus on Sixth Avenue to 116th Street and Riverside and walk to the Broadway gate. Or you can catch the Broadway Line of the IRT subway (train number 1) at Forty-Second Street and Broadway, Fiftieth Street and Broadway, or Columbus Circle (Fifty- ninth and Broadway). Get off the train at 116th Street and walk right into the Broadway gate of the University. ■■