The Library's Legal Answer Book

Front Cover
American Library Association, 2003 M01 23 - 361 pages
Every librarian who wants to make wise policy decisions and protect the organization from legal challenges can now consult the library legal team of Minow and Lipinskil Libraries are in the thick of legal issues as new technologies add layers of complexity to everyday work in the library. How do you know what's legal? What can you do to identify and address issues before they turn into bona fide legal matters? Where do you turn for help? In this comprehensive and authoritative, yet easy-to-understand Q & A customized for librarians, you'll find expert guidance on complex issues. With coverage of all the issues of the day - filters, fair use, copyright, Web publishing and Internet use, software sharing, ADA compliance, free speech, privacy, access, and employment and liability issues - you will have a librarian's J.D. in short order! This timely and practical desktop tool: Focuses on quick and reader-friendly answers to common legal questions; Provides examples of legal challenges faced in libraries; Includes precedents and case citations to conduct additional research; Supports libraries in their commitment to access without liability; With detailed and ready-to-apply answers to

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Contents

LIBRARIES AND COPYRIGHT
13
DESIGNING THE LIBRARY WEB PAGE
85
FILTERS AND OTHER RESTRICTIONS ON INTERNET ACCESS
124
DIGITAL LIBRARY RESOURCES AND PATRONS WITH DISABILITIES
140
LIBRARY RECORDS AND PRIVACY
163
MEETING ROOMS AND DISPLAYS The Public Soapbox inside the Library
222
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY Reference Collection Book Reviews Latchkey Children
240
ISSUES IN LIBRARY EMPLOYMENT
277
FRIENDS THE INTERNET AND LOBBYING
321
Index
339
Copyright

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Page 126 - The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Page 326 - ... organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation, and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or...
Page 27 - ... (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Page 231 - It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.
Page 40 - January 1, 1978, all legal or equitable rights that are equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright...
Page 133 - In determining what is obscene material, the basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether the "average person, applying contemporary community standards" would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
Page 98 - ... (4) That the use of the name, term, or device charged to be an infringement is a use, otherwise than as a trade or service mark, of the party's individual name in his own business, or of the individual name of anyone in privity with such party, or of a term or device which is descriptive of and used fairly and in good faith only to describe to users the goods or services of such party...
Page 231 - against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.

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