SCELC's Resource Sharing Committee (RSC) identifies, analyzes and facilitates resource sharing innovations, strategies, and trends. It proposes new resource sharing initiatives to the SCELC Board of Directors and communicates with SCELC libraries regarding resource sharing issues and proposals. It also coordinates SCELC-wide activities relating to interlibrary loan, patron-initiated borrowing, and reciprocal borrowing.
Articles and chapters are shared with a borrowing library electronically usually in pdf format.
These pdfs can be sent via e-mail or by using OCLC's Article Exchange or Odyssey, a component of ILLiad which is also available as a free stand alone app.
Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. One's work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
Resource Sharing assumes a library's exercise both of reproduction permissions granted to libraries in the Copyright code (Section 108) and of Fair Use. Fair use (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act) is an exemption in copyright law that allows people to use works protected by copyright in a limited way and for certain purposes without the copyright owner’s permission. See also this ALA publication.
Borrowing libraries should alert users requesting materials with a statement similar to this:
The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.
Part of a borrowing library's responsibilities is to pay royalties to the Copyright Clearance Center or publisher to maintain 'good faith' regarding lending as replacement for subscribing to or owning a resource (Section 108) and Fair Use (Section 107). The Copyright code does not quantify how much aggregate lending constitutes resource replacement. Sections 107 and 108 are not mutually exclusive -- libraries can leverage both sections in justifying rights free borrowing of resources.
One option to gauge Section 108 compliance is termed the "Rule of Five":
This is a suggested framework; it is not codified in law, nor required by resources licensed from SCELC.
“Resource Sharing” means making the collections of one library available to the patrons of another library efficiently and effectively. Resource sharing encompasses the technical capabilities, staff expertise and policies necessary to achieve that objective. Resource sharing incorporates activities related to automated discovery tools (including bibliographic library databases), collection management, bibliographic description, delivery, interlibrary loan, reciprocal access and reciprocal borrowing. Here are examples of mission and vision statements for resource sharing from the RAILS Resource sharing committee and IGI Global.
Resource Sharing materials are lent with the intention that they will be used for individual research purposes and not retention in a borrowing library's collections.
SCELC offers a number of programs which encourage and support sharing of Returnables and non-Returnables among member libraries.
