New Accessible Text Request Service

The WashU Libraries now participate in HathiTrust’s Accessible Text Request Service. Through this service, WashU users with print disabilities can request special access to copyrighted materials in the HathiTrust Digital Library to use with adaptive technologies like screen readers. To qualify for this service, users must have registered with WashU Disability Resources or Human Resources.

HathiTrust is a not-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries, including WashU Libraries. It was established in 2008 and preserves over 18 million digitized items in the HathiTrust Digital Library. Many of these items are in the public domain or available by open access and can be read by anyone. Copyrighted materials are designated “Limited (search-only)” and cannot usually be read online. However, eligible WashU users of the Accessible Text Request Service can request full digital copies of these works by emailing  LibrariesAccessibility@wustl.edu with links to the requested items. The Libraries’ accessibility team will confirm eligibility and respond to the request. Please visit the Libraries’ Accessibility page to learn more about the HathiTrust Accessible Text Request Service.

Fair Use and Broad Access

How are WashU Libraries and HathiTrust able to provide this service? A combination of statutes and amendments ensures that libraries of educational institutions can reproduce and distribute their collections to print-disabled individuals. More specifically, people with print disabilities, learning disabilities, and visual and physical impairments are explicitly covered by section 107 (fair use) and section 121 (the Chafee Amendment) of the U.S. Copyright Act.

In Authors Guild v. HathiTrust, HathiTrust relied on fair use to provide accessible materials. The fair use analysis was premised on the importance of accessibility as an objective and the failure of the market to meet it. Section 121 further demonstrates congressional intent to limit copyright’s exclusive rights in order to facilitate broad access to information. In the HathiTrust case, the district judge ruled that both Section 121 and fair use applied to the defendants’ actions.

Section 121 provides clear protection for making and sharing accessible texts, stating: “Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to reproduce or to distribute in the United States copies or phonorecords of a previously published literary work or of a previously published musical work that has been fixed in the form of text or notation if such copies or phonorecords are reproduced or distributed in accessible formats exclusively for use by eligible persons.”

It’s also important to note that contrary to what big publishers say in contracts, neither the requestor nor the fulfilling institution needs to purchase an inaccessible copy in connection with each (or any) request for an accessible one, and producing multiple accessible copies from a single source is also acceptable.

Please see the following for more information:

Further resources at Brown School

Butler, B., et al. “The Law and Accessible Texts: Reconciling Civil Rights and Copyrights.” Association of Research Libraries, July 2019

Library Accessibility Toolkit