Interlibrary Loan: Policies

Notice of Copyright Restrictions

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "Fair Use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Delgado Community College Libraries reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

National Commission on New Technology Uses of Copyrighted Works - The CONTU guidelines govern photocopying under Interlibrary Loan agreements in accordance with Copyright Laws.

• CONTU Guidelines for copying from periodicals apply only to materials less than five years old (referred to as part of the "rule of five").
• Up to five articles may be copied from a single periodical in one calendar year under the ILL provision (referred to as part of the "rule of five").
• A library with a subscription for a periodical which is not immediately available may consider a copy obtained from another library as if made from its own collection.
• All ILL requests must be accompanied by a copyright compliance statement from the requesting library. The requesting library must maintain records of all requests and of their fulfillment. These records must be kept for three calendar years after the request has been made.
• No more than six copies of articles/chapters/small portions may be made from a non-periodical (including a book) during the entire term of copyright of the work.
• For copying beyond the CONTU Guidelines, the library may need to obtain copyright permission directly from the copyright holder or from a representative such as the Copyright Clearance Center.