Some publishers wary about putting class packets on Web

The on-line system that allows students to view packets of reading material for some University courses has students excited and publishers nervous.

The Association of American Publishers, Inc., decries the Electronic Reserve Systems, or E-Reserve, as simply stealing material from publishers, said Carol A. Risher, vice president for copyright of the Washington, D.C., lobbying group.

"The term E-Reserve is really a misnomer," she said. "The traditional reserve room was a place where students could use printed material. What we have here is people making copies."

Scanning academic articles and making them available to students does not qualify as a fair use for academic reasons, Risher said. Scanned articles can be used more than nine times a semester, she explained.

'Fair use for academic reasons' is a standard which allows teachers at all levels to reproduce materials for classroom use under certain conditions, she said. Excerpts reproduced cannot be long nor can they be used repeatedly.

"We are not talking about copying an article out of The Wall Street Journal and giving it to everyone in the class," she said. "What we really have here is an infringement of the publishers' rights."

The University's E-Reserve system, run by Pattee, claims fair use the first time they post a publication, said Joan Reyes, the access services librarian who runs the system. Before articles are posted a second time, she said, royalties are paid.

Harvard University Press has received requests from professors who want to put Harvard-published material on the Web, said Harvard University Press' director of copyright, Mindy Koyanis.

"We look at that on a case-by-case basis," she said. "One of the factors is if the material is downloadable or not. Will people be printing it out?"

Koyanis said the on-line reserve systems are very similar to course packets traditionally sold in bookstores, a major source of revenue for academic publishing houses. Publishers generally receive five to 15 cents per page per packet or $1.50 per printed article per packet as a result of a 1993 court settlement with Kinko's The Copy Center.

There is no difference between course packets and the on-line reserve system, Risher said.

"It is really a misnomer. Traditionally, a reserve room in a library was a place where people could go read books," she said. "What we have here is reproduction. People are publishing on the net."

The profit earned by selling reprinting rights, Koyanis said, makes it possible for universities to publish controversial works that may not make much money otherwise. This is revenue publishers are determined to protect.

"We are very serious about protecting our rights," she said, "whether it is in print or on a computer screen."

The bottom lines are a big consideration in the case of E-Reserves, said David Perry, editor and chief of University of North Carolina Press.

"University publishers are under a lot of pressure from administrators," he said. "I think a lot of publishers are nervous because they don't know what they are being asked to join."

Unlike some nervous publishers, Perry said he is excited about the possibilities of E-Reserve systems and the possibilities he said university libraries might not be able to exploit.

"I think it's a wonderful use of the technology. It has to happen," he said. "I would like to be in the business of providing already scanned-in, error-free electronic texts. That could be done very cheaply for all involved."

Reyes said she does not know if prepared on-line materials would sell well to universities.

"It depends on how low is low-cost," she said. "Publishers tend to have a different view of low-cost than the rest of us."