Fair Use: Law, Ethics and Librarians

The fair use doctrine allows the use of copyrighted works without the permission of the copyright owner. Fair use is a legal concept, and the test for determining if a use is fair is contained in the Copyright Act of 1976. But fair use is also an ethical concept because it involves a determination of when it is fair to use someone's property. This article discusses the librarians' legal obligation of fair use and the librarians' ethical obligation of fair use and the similarities and differences between them, concluding that the librarians' ethical obligation may be greater than their legal obligation. The article also suggests principles which librarians can advocate for in copyright policies to implement the ethics of fair use.