Reserve reading on-line
A Student Assembly effort to make course reserve readings available over the College's computer network is running into legal barriers that are inhibiting the process. Four months after the Assembly's Project Committee began the task, three documents are available through the Online Library program that enables students to tap into a vast array of other database information from their computers. This term the Reserve Room has 2,600 photocopied documents -- and that does not include books, according to Ploeger. Most of the reserve readings are protected by copyright laws that prohibit the reproduction or electronic transmission of the document. Currently, only non-copyrighted materials can be put on-line, Circulation Services Librarian Pamela Ploeger said. Jeff Bell '96, the committee's liaison with Baker Library, said 20 non-copyrighted readings will be put on-line for the Fall term. Bell said laws restricting use of copyrighted materials on computer networks are untested and the legal implications are unclear. "In effect, we're waiting for someone to get sued," Bell said.