Students may soon be carrying around more books in their already overstuffed backpacks.

Beginning summer 2002, students will no longer be using course packets in their classes. The Copyright Permissions Office, located in the lower level of the Quinn Administrative Building, has fallen victim to the many budgetary cuts around campus and will be closing its doors at the end of this semester.

Since 1997, the Copyright Permissions Office has been a convenient and affordable vehicle for both instructors and students. The Copyright Permissions Office obtains the legal permission necessary to reproduce documents for use in course packets, which instructors use to provide students with a selection of articles, essays, and book excerpts at a very reasonable price. Each course packet is priced at approximately eight cents per page, with both the cost of copyright permission and a desk-copy for the instructor divided among all the copies produced.

Bernadette Levasseur of the Wheatley Copy Center says that her center “receives approximately 120 different course packets per semester.” Veronica also added that contrary to popular belief, these course packets come from all departments, not just the English department.

The Copyright Permissions office estimates that they obtain permission to reproduce approximately 3,600 documents each semester. Including the summer semester, this adds up to about 8,000 documents each year.

The work required to obtain copyright permission can be time consuming. One full-time manager and two part-time staffers have to research each document to locate the owner of its copyright, which can be the publisher, author, literary agent, or even the state. And it doesn’t matter if an instructor uses the same course packet next year, because the copyright permission needs to be obtained each year.

So what does this mean for instructors? For one thing, instructors will now have to utilize independent copyright permission offices if they want to share excerpts with their students. Professor Meg Mansfield of the English department feels that this will be “very inconvenient for teachers.” She is also concerned that obtaining copyright permission will require teachers to “pay for expenses out-of-pocket without reimbursement.”

Professor Mansfield was quick to note that many valuable resources are available for teachers on the Internet and suggested that the university offer workshops for faculty on how to tap into the many resources that would be helpful.

Instructors may also utilize E-Reserve at the Healey Library. With E-Reserve, a document can be scanned into the computer and viewed by students on their own time, after they receive a password from their instructor. The only problem with this option seems to be a long list of “fair use” regulations surrounding copyright permission on the Internet. Think NAPSTER here.

And how does all this affect students? In the absence of course packets, students may be forced to purchase additional books to obtain the information that had previously been included in the affordable course packets.

And if the thought of hiking around campus with a heavier pack isn’t bad enough, remember that a few more required books per course can add up to a lot more dollars spent at the bookstore.

The absence of the Copyright Permissions Office not only leaves three people without jobs, it leaves a void in the area of convenient, affordable materials for students and instructors, and no one to educate faculty and students on the many complex copyright laws.

Complex laws and inconvenient processes may force some instructors to feel that they should photocopy materials on their own. Unfortunately, photocopying printed materials is copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is a Federal crime, and violators risk facing injunction and being sued for compensatory damages.