Libraries may rely upon the library copying provisions in the Copyright Act to copy on behalf of clients, whether or not they have a disability. Copies made under these provisions may be adapted to the needs of a client, for example by being made in large print.

Libraries cannot generally rely on the specific provisions relating to people with a disability (unless they are libraries within an educational institution or disability organisation). However, they may request an institution assisting people with a print or intellectual disability to make a copy under the relevant provisions; the library may then pass that copy on to the person with the disability.

Libraries may make copies for people with disabilities under section 200AB (the “special case” exception), provided all the conditions are met.

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Owners of copyright and their agents (such as Copyright Agency Limited) have the right to inspect the declarations retained by the library in connection with copying under the provisions. They must give the library at least seven days notice of their intention to inspect. www.copyright.com.au

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If you work in a library, you may from time to time receive a request to supply material from another library or organisation that doesn’t appear to conform with the inter-library supply requests you may be more familiar with.

In some cases, if the request is from an educational institution, the request might not be based on the inter-library supply provisions in the Copyright Act, but on the special provisions for educational institutions. Generally, these provisions are broader than the inter-library supply provisions. For example, subject to certain limits, an educational institution is entitled to make multiple copies of material for its educational purposes, and to “communicate” these (for example, by posting the material to its intranet).

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While libraries are entitled to supply clients with material they require for their research or study by methods such as email, the Act is very specific in requiring that any retained copy be destroyed “as soon as practicable after [a] reproduction is communicated”.

If your library is to continue supplying clients under section 49 by email, it would need to alter its email archiving policy so that copies of third-party material (such as articles and chapters of books) are not retained as part of the archive.

Alternatively, it would need to look at supplying copies of material to clients by a different method – for example, in hardcopy or via fax (provided faxed copies were later destroyed).

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Yes, if the e-zine is indeed a periodical; you may reproduce those articles from the one issue which are on the same subject.

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There is no copyright issue if the cover does not include any copyright works. However, most covers include “artistic works” (such as illustrations or photos) and many also include “literary works” (such as abstracts), and these can be protected by copyright.

Where the image if the cover is used in an online blog, the “fair dealing” exception that covers use of copyright material for criticism or review may be available, provided the relevant creators were given “sufficient acknowledgement”. This provision is unlikely, however, to apply if you are putting the image into a catalogue.

Note also that many publishers give free permission in the terms and conditions of use of their websites for digital copies of book covers available there to be used in certain ways, in which case those terms and conditions of use will apply.

It is not clear whether a library might be able to rely on section 200AB to use the images in an online catalogue. Arguably, where the images on the cover are licensed for online use, the use by the library could be seen as competing with the “normal exploitation” of those images. In some cases, you may also have to consider contractual issues if you received the images as part of a contract or subscription.

The Australian Digital Alliance also comments on these issues and comes up with a “maybe”: see particularly page 28 of its handbook (click on the link to the right). http://www.digital.org.au/

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