Copyright: Library and Accessibility

There are specific provisions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) to allow some copying and communication of copyright material by libraries and archives, and also for the provision of accessible material for people with disabilities.

Under the Copyright Act (s49), TUA library may copy published written, artistic and musical works in its collection for a client who has requested the material for their research or study.

The request must be in writing (using the Library's Article Request form) and must contain a declaration from the person requesting the copy that is only for research or study and not for any other purpose, and that the person has not been previously supplied with a copy of the same work by the library.

There is no specific equivalent provision which allows copying of audio-visual material such as CDs and DVDs.

The following copying limits apply:

• For periodical publications - one article, or two or more articles from the same issue if the articles are for the same research or course of study
• For a work in hardcopy form (other than an article in a periodical publication) - 10% or one chapter, whichever is the greater. 
• For a work in electronic form, 10% of the words in the work.

If more than this is required the library office must be satisfied that the work is not available for purchase, new, as a separate publication, at an at an ordinary commercial price within a reasonable time.

Any copies made by the Library in the process of delivering the copy to the client (e.g. a scanned document emailed to a student) should be destroyed or deleted as soon as practicable after a reproduction is communicated.

if the item requested is not in the TUA Library Collection, under the Copyright Act (s50), TUA Library may requests another library to make a copy of a text or artistic work for supply to an individual under s49 for the purposes of fair dealing for research or study.

TUA may also request copies from other libraries under s50 for inclusion in its Library Collection, provided that the library officer is first satisfied that the work to be copied is not available for purchase, new, as a separate publication, at an ordinary commercial price within a reasonable time.

Academic Staff wanting to include copies of scanned book chapters or articles in teaching materials should indicate that this as the intended purpose when requesting material via Document Delivery (using the Library's Article Request form). This allows the Library to identify that the purpose of the request is not for individual use, but rather for inclusion of the item into the eReserve Plus (Reading List management system) for delivery to students in a particular subject.

This exception does not apply to audio-visual material or sound recordings.

The copying limits are the same as those set out above in relation to the copying for users in s49.