This is a bit old, but I couldn't let it pass by.... > From: Dan Lester <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: Kinko's Fallout > It is absolutely vital that we, as librarians and scholars and students, >support the laws in this area. They are for YOUR benefit if you are an >author. I may not always agree with some of the laws or their interpretations >but I will sure as hell follow them. My job is on the line. I'm sure I don't understand why "we," whoever that might be, have to support these laws. As a teacher and a student, they make my life miserable, and they prevent me from teaching what I want and from learning what I want. And let's get real: they are not for MY benefit if I am an author. Gaining permission to reprint articles for a course packet here at UWM cost over $3,000, and the packet had less than 100 pages. And who gets this money? Sure, some authors see some of this money, no doubt, but most academic authors do not make more than popcorn cash from their royalties. The publishers, whose claim that xeroxing ten copies of a ten page chapter was taking away substantial business, pocket the dough. Meanwhile, they also get to set the prices themselves, which may be capitalism at its best, but it certainly prevents the open exchange of ideas in the academy, since public universities like UWM simply can't afford to pay as much as the publishers want. I am no expert on copyright law nor on the publishing industry, but this decision has had a chilling effect at UWM. I have to collect money from students to provide reading materials (and yes, Dan, I'm probably breaking the law) for my students, who can't afford to pay twenty bucks for a new, "legal" course packet. I can't wait the two months it takes to get permissions, nor can I expect my commuter students to get to campus to xerox reserve articles or order their own copies from the local Kinko's. And what kind of substantial business am I tapping into, anyways? For whose financial benefit? Certainly not mine. This "law and order" attitude bugs me, though I realize for many people it's simply necessary in the face of these prohibitions, and I might eat any civil disobedience proclamation I might wish to make. Still, the situation as it stands it bad news, and here in Wisconsin (where there is a recession, by the way), we're faced with choosing "text books" and not being able to provide students with current academic work in our areas. That is frightening to me. A closer: has anyone heard about this electronic copyright confirmation system that is being set up? It sounds great, and might make a lot of these blues go away. I'm not sure who's organizing it, or funding it, but I think there's a group of publishers working with academics on it. ___________________________ | |\ ================================--------..-. | | \==========--------------------------...... | chris amirault | |--==-- There, now -- I have created a ---.. | [log in to unmask] | |====-- "brick", at no cost to myself, --.... | | |-==--- it is the corner stone of my --...-. | | |===--- wealth -- the foundation of my --.... \---------------------------\ |-----= monument of fame -- ---------..---... \___________________________\|=-=-=-=-=-========-----..Geo. Herriman..-....