Project ACORN (Access to Course Readings via Networks) Final Report: Appendix 9: Final Copyright Permissions Report

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded Access to Course Readings via Networks (ACORN) action research project sought to investigate the issues surrounding the establishment of a digital ‘short loan’ collection of journal articles at Loughborough University (1996-8). This report evaluates the costs and processes involved in seeking copyright permission to digitise journal articles for access by students on courses of study. It finds that direct permission seeking is time-consuming and complex: 78% of publishers required chasing; on average they needed chasing 6 times; of the 85 publishers approached, the contact details were wrong for 53%; in 8% of cases, the publisher was not the copyright owner; on average it took 77 days to get a signed agreement. Also, the need to seek copyright permission could have a negative impact on teaching (in one department only 54% of permissions were received) and there was no consistency in the charges made (copyright fees ranged from $1 to $25 per page).