17 U.S.C. § 108 — Limitations on exclusive rights: Reproduction by libraries and archives

(a) Basic rule. Except where this title says otherwise, and despite section 106, it is not copyright infringement for a library or archives — or its employees acting within their job — to reproduce and distribute no more than one copy or phonorecord of a work, under the conditions this section sets, if: (1) they aren't doing it for any direct or indirect commercial advantage; (2) the library's or archives' collections are either (i) open to the public, or (ii) open not just to people connected to that library or its parent institution, but also to other outside researchers in that specialized field; and (3) the copy includes the copyright notice found on the original, or, if no notice can be found, a note saying the work may be protected by copyright. (b) Preservation and security copies of unpublished works. Libraries and archives can make up to three copies or phonorecords of an unpublished work, just for preservation, security, or depositing at another qualifying library or archives for research use, if: (1) the copy being reproduced is currently in that library's or archives' own collection; and (2) any digital copy made this way isn't distributed in digital form or made publicly available outside the library's or archives' premises. (c) Replacement copies of published works. Libraries and archives can make up to three copies of a published work solely to replace a copy that's damaged, deteriorating, lost, or stolen, or whose format has become obsolete, if: (1) after a reasonable effort, the library or archives determines it can't get an unused replacement at a fair price; and (2) any digital replacement copy isn't made available to the public outside the premises of the library or archives that lawfully has it. A format counts as "obsolete" once the machine needed to use it is no longer made or reasonably available for sale. (d) Single-article or small-excerpt copies for users. Libraries and archives can copy a single article, a small part of a copyrighted work, or a contribution to a periodical or collection — made from their own collection or another library's or archives' collection — for a user, if: (1) the copy becomes the user's property, and the library or archives has no notice the copy will be used for anything besides private study, scholarship, or research; and (2) the library or archives prominently displays a copyright warning where orders are taken, and includes one on its order form, following rules the Register of Copyrights sets. (e) Whole-work copies when a copy can't be bought. Libraries and archives can copy an entire work, or most of it, for a user under the same two conditions as (d) — becoming the user's property with no notice of improper use, plus the copyright-warning requirement — but only if the library or archives first reasonably investigated and determined that a copy of the work can't be bought at a fair price. (f) What this section does not do. Nothing in this section: (1) makes a library, archives, or its employees liable for copyright infringement just because users make unsupervised copies on equipment located on the premises — as long as the equipment displays a notice that copying may be subject to copyright law; (2) excuses a person who uses that equipment, or who requests a copy under subsection (d), from liability if their use goes beyond fair use under section 107; (3) limits a library's or archives' ability to lend a limited number of copies or excerpts of an audiovisual news program, subject to subsection (a)'s three conditions; or (4) affects the right of fair use under section 107, or any contract obligations the library or archives already took on when it got a work for its collection. (g) Isolated copies, not systematic copying. The rights in this section cover making or distributing a single copy of the same material on separate, unrelated occasions. They do not cover cases where the library, archives, or its employee: (1) knows, or has substantial reason to believe, it's making related or coordinated copies of the same material — whether all at once or over time, and whether for one group's combined use or several people's separate use; or (2) systematically reproduces or distributes single or multiple copies of the kind of material described in subsection (d) — except that a library or archives can still take part in interlibrary lending arrangements, as long as the receiving library isn't getting so many copies that it's really substituting for buying or subscribing to the work. (h) Last-20-years preservation, scholarship, and research use. (1) During the last 20 years of a published work's copyright term, a library or archives — including a nonprofit school acting as one — can reproduce, distribute, display, or perform a copy of the work, in physical or digital form, for preservation, scholarship, or research, if it first reasonably investigates and determines that none of the three conditions in paragraph (2) apply. (2) This use is not allowed if: (A) the work is still being commercially exploited in the normal way; (B) a copy can be bought at a reasonable price; or (C) the copyright owner or its agent has filed a notice, under the Register of Copyrights' rules, saying either (A) or (B) applies. (3) This exemption only covers the library or archives itself — it doesn't extend to later uses by other people. (i) Works this section doesn't cover. This section's copying and distribution rights don't apply to musical works, pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, or motion pictures and other audiovisual works — except audiovisual news works are still covered. However, that limit doesn't apply to the rights given by subsections (b), (c), and (h), or to pictorial or graphic works used as illustrations, diagrams, or similar add-ons in works that are otherwise properly copied or distributed under subsections (d) and (e).