Library Resources

Electronic Reserves and Copyrights     Fair Use    Additional Copyright Information

General information about the Mercy College Library including hours, contacts and resources are in Library

Faculty and staff can request library services by completing an online form and submitting it to the library.

Literature Search Request Form – For faculty, staff and administration use only. Students should submit an Electronic Reference Request Form.

Electronic Reference Request Form – Answers to brief, factual questions for students, faculty and staff. 

Electronic Reserves Form – For faculty use only in submitting documents for use in E-Reserves within E-LEOS. See below for more information regarding copyrights and fair use. Submission requirements:

• The complete bibliographic reference must be included.

• Pages should be 8 ½ X 11, single-sided copies.

• Pages should be crisp without wrinkles, turned over corners, or staples.

• Copies of articles must be clear, without highlighting, underlining, or dark borders as pages will lose some clarity during scanning.

• Longer items will be broken into smaller files and count as multiple items. the library reserves the right to refuse items of excessive length.

• A limit of 10 items will be accepted for each course.

• Teachers should submit requests at least 10 days before the beginning of each semester.

• The library will not keep an item on e-reserves more than one semester. Teachers are encouraged to have a selection of articles from which to choose.

Electronic Reserves and Copyrights

Mercy College Library's E-Reserve policies and procedures have been developed to comply with current copyright law.

What we CAN do:

• Put links to online articles, Websites, and online video content.

• Scan several articles that represent a small portion of the entire course material. 

• Scan a small portion of a book.

• Scan items that are no longer copyrighted. Items older than 1923, for example, may be freely posted.

• Scan items that are in the public domain, such as government reports.

• Scan teacher-created documents and learning materials.

• Continue to maintain a Library Reserve collection of books, textbooks and non-article resources such as hand washing kits.

What we CANNOT do:

• Scan a collection of articles that replaces use of a textbook for the course. (This is legally considered a classroom anthology and must be handled as a course pack. Course packs are ordered through Drake University Bookstore.)

• Scan more than a small portion from a book.

• Put any item on Electronic Reserves without complete citation information.

• Keep an item on Electronic Reserves for more than a single semester.
   

What we MUST do:

• Put the complete reference citation on each item.

• Put a copyright notice ( © ) on each item.

• Remove the item at the end of a semester.

• Use password protection to make the item available only to students registered in a course. We do this by putting the link to Electronic Reserves within your E-LEOS course under Lessons.

Fair Use
 

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides for “fair use” of copyrighted materials, considering a combination of four factors:

• Character of use – Non-profit educational use is most likely acceptable.

• Nature of the work – Highly creative items are not as likely to be allowed as factual information.

• Amount of a work used – Small amount in proportion to an entire course and a single article or small portion of a book.

• The impact on the market for the work – Limiting access only to registered students and limiting use to a single semester meets this requirement.

Additional Copyright Information

Association of College & Research Libraries

• Statement on Fair Use and Electronic Reserves

Cornell University/American Publishers Agreement

• Cornell Electronic Course Content Copyright Guidelines

Copyright Clearance Center

• Using Electronic Reserves

Oberlin College

• Electronic Reserves Copyright Guide

Siena College

• Electronic Reserves Copyright Guidelines