E-Reserve as a solution to digital copyright management at Curtin University of Technology

Abstract

This paper addresses how Curtin University Library & Information Service successfully adapted its E-Reserve system to accommodate the 2001 amendments to Australian copyright legislation, offering the University a solution to digital copyright management without sacrificing the needs of students, academic staff or the Library itself.The paper examines how the Library assisted Curtin to keep its copying under the educational provisions of the Copyright Act to a minimum. The Library's role in achieving necessary changes to University copyright policy is discussed and its linking system to course/unit learning management systems described.The paper considers the legislative requirements for educational electronic copying, including warning notices, authentication and institutional limits, and how these were incorporated into Curtin's E-Reserve. It also covers each of the fields universities are required to report on for the Electronic Use System monitoring scheme 2003-2007. To minimize Library workloads and inconvenience to staff and students, the Library determined only to collect some of this data year-round. Data for other fields would only be collected during a monitoring period. The reasons for this decision and how the data was successfully collected when the University was monitored in 2002-2003 are covered.