Abstract
Photocopying of reading materials, especially from holdings in libraries is common practice among Malaysian university students. It is unusual to find a student not making photocopies from books or journals. Photocopying machines are easily found in the campus, especially in the libraries with full cooperation from the machine operators. This article will discuss the copyright law in Malaysia with regard to photocopying practices, especially on the controversial term of “fair use” or “fair dealing” as stated in the act. The second part relates to the main findings from a survey conducted in 2009 about photocopying among university students, and the last part provide alternatives available to publishers on ways to control and to overcome this problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barker RE. Photocopying practices in the United Kingdom. London: Faber & Faber; 1970.
Copyright Act 1987 (Act 332) & regulations & orders. Kuala Lumpur: International Law Book Services; 1985.
Gasaway LN. Photocopying ruling affects for-profit sector. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science; 1983.
Gleason P. Publishers’ and librarians’ views on copyright and photocopying. Scholarly Publishing; 1988.
Hamedi MA. Ethics and practices of book photocopying in the higher learning institutions. Paper presented in the national seminar on ethics in writing and journalism, held in University Malaya, 28–29; 2005.
Horowitz I. Corporate ghosts in the photocopying machine. Scholarly Publishing; 1981.
Khaw LT. Copyright law in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: LexisNexis; 1998.
Price MO. Photocopying by libraries and copyright: a précis. J Document, 1972;4(7).
Wall RA. Photocopying rights and wrong: a librarian’s view. Aslib Proceeding, 34(2).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Adnan, H.M. Xerox Makes Everybody a Publisher: Problems of Book Photocopying and Ways to Control it in Malaysia. Pub Res Q 27, 268–276 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-011-9233-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-011-9233-4