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To investigate photocopying practices in tertiary institutions in Nigeria as they relate to the existing copyright law and suggestions to regulate photocopying practices so that the infringement of copyright laws will be minimized.

An empirical approach in which questionnaires, in addition to observation and interview methods, were used to obtain data on the photocopying practices and the awareness of copyright laws by the respondents in five tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

That the major reasons for photocopying are the cheapness of photocopies compared with the cost of purchasing books and journals as well as the scarcity of books. More than 50 per cent of the respondents photocopied whole books and journals, while over 65 per cent of them are aware of the copyright law.

The study was limited to five tertiary institutions in three zones of Nigeria. It could not cover all the tertiary institutions in Nigeria as that would have been too time‐consuming and expensive.

A useful guide to reasons why people prefer to do photocopies as compared with the purchase of books and the way by which more books can be made available at cheaper cost in order to discourage the propensity for photocopying. It will also create greater awareness and respect for the rule of the copyright law.

It provided suggestions that would create greater awareness of the copyright law in tertiary institutions. It also provided clues to creating book availability in the Nigerian book market and in institutional libraries as a way of discouraging massive photocopying practices which lead to infringement of the copyright law.

Evidence provided by the Dainton Report indicates that special libraries in the UK are far from fully exploiting the photocopying services provided by the national libraries. As these photocopying services are legally obliged to operate at cost, they offer significant economies to any special library which exploits them systematically. This paper describes a simple graphical method of estimating the savings that can be made, or the extended subject coverage that can be obtained at no additional cost, by substituting photocopies for relevant papers in the peripheral periodicals relating to any well‐defined scientific or technical subject. Though photocopying charges must be realistic, the confident exploitation of the national photocopying services depends on the avoidance of arbitrary jumps in photocopying charges.

Self‐service photocopying is a subject largely neglected by the library community despite its importance to library operations and library users. The extant literature is small and scattered. A comprehensive overview is presented in order to bring together disparate sources of information and to introduce the reader to the managerial complexities of self‐directed photocopy services. It includes a discussion of organizational approaches, financial considerations, statistical reporting, equipment, access modalities, user surveys, and copyright.

The impetus for the establishment of a scheme that would protect authors and publishers from unauthorised use of copyright material came in part from a ten year struggle (successfully concluded in 1982 with the inception of the Public Lending Right scheme) to obtain payment for authors for copyright material lent to the public through public libraries. As photocopying machines became more readily available so copyright material became more vulnerable to unauthorised use in part or in whole. An area where photocopying was thought to be particularly extensive was that of education, and within that area the largest users are the Local Education Authorities. As this represented an area that was relatively well documented and the associations of local authorities were co‐operative in this matter, it was thought to be the point at which the task of collecting payment for the photocopying of copyright material should begin.

Few studies are available that attempt to determine how much it costs to provide supplemental question handling and interlibrary loan (ILL) and photocopying services to local libraries from their State Library Agencies. Recently I had that opportunity when I completed a consulting study to develop an appropriate cost funding model for the New Jersey State Library (NJSL). The study focused on costs alone, and did not attempt to evaluate the quality or efficacy of the service provided by the two libraries in which it was conducted.

Controversy was aroused by the Whitford Report of 1977. Library professional bodies and others argued strongly against the Report and recommended alternative approaches to cover multiple copying. In respect of photocopying, the Whitford Report recommended ‘blanket licensing to cater for all user requirements for facsimile copies’ with payment of royalties to collecting societies for distribution to copyright owners. The licensing scheme envisaged would remove the right of an individual to the ‘fair dealing’ single copies which are allowed without royalties by the 1956 Copyright Act, though private researchers or students would be permitted to make their own manuscript copies. Owners of coin‐operated machines would require a special licence and responsibility for infringement would be transferred from the individual user to the machine owner.

The paper attempts to provide an outline account of the development and context of scientific and technical communication during the twentieth century. The main channels and forms of communication are reviewed, and their changing contributions to the overall pattern of information flow. The ever‐increasing volume and diversity of scientific and technical information are emphasised. The paper concludes with some reflections on what may be learnt from this history.

The proposition is examined that large‐scale photocopying, such as that practised by the British Library Lending Division, affects the sales of journals. There is little evidence of a reduction in journal circulation figures. In spite of large increases in journal prices (which have risen much faster, in terms of cost per page, than the Retail Price Index), university libraries have, since the NLLST was established, devoted an increasingly high proportion of their budgets to journals, though recent financial pressures are now forcing cancellations. An extensive survey of demand for journals at BLLD shows a heavy concentration on a relatively small number of titles, most of them well established journals, widely held by libraries and with large circulations. The demand for in‐print issues of the average journal is small. It is concluded, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, that economic difficulties experienced by journal publishers and the increased demand on the BLLD are unrelated, though both owe something to the economic pressures on libraries.

A study of 1,696 loan requests satisfied by the British Library Lending Division showed that approximately 3% are for journals that used to be taken by the borrowing library but are not now being acquired. In the light of a survey of the way librarians in the UK make decisions on journal subscriptions and cancellations it appears that they very rarely replace subscriptions by interlibrary borrowing.

The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) was created to facilitate compliance with US copyright law. It serves both foreign and domestic copyright owners and the users of their work. Over the past ten years CCC has developed its major services. The Annual Authorizations Service (AAS) provides annual blanket licences to permit major companies to photocopy copyright material. Various statistical sampling methods are used to establish the level of use and thus the cost of the licences. In 1986 700,000 photocopies were made under this scheme. The Transactional Reporting Service (TRS) is the original scheme whereby users voluntarily report and pay copying fees for CCC‐registered publications on a per‐copy basis. At present some 2,400 users have established accounts with CCC under this scheme: approximately 3.3 million photocopies have been reported through the service since its inception in 1978, 600,000 of these in 1986. Despite the growing popularity of the AAS, this service is still showing a pattern of consistent growth. Reciprocal bilateral agreements with foreign Reproduction Rights Organizations are becoming increasingly significant to the work of CCC, since greater international co‐operation in the collection and distribution of photocopy royalties will be a vital factor in the development of international document delivery in the future.