XplanaZine

Fair use on campus: publishers sue school over class reading
A group of publishers are suing Georgia State University over the digital distribution of class reading materials in a case that may help define the fair use of digital materials. The three publishers involved, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications, target the academic audience. Cases that defined fair use of classroom material date back to the early ’90s, where the means of infringement was the photocopier. Back then, private entities that prepared material for university courses were found to have infringed the copyright of publishers in duplicating their material. A key feature of these cases, however, is that the infringers were private businesses that charged for their copying services; many universities are not-for-profit entities. — Ars Technica

Darwin’s private papers get Internet launch
Comprising some 20,000 items and 90,000 images, the release on darwin-online.org.uk is the largest Internet collection of Darwin’s papers, according to the organizers from Cambridge University Library which holds all the Darwin papers. The website displays thousands of notes and drafts of his scientific writings, notes from the voyage of the Beagle when he began to formulate his controversial theory of evolution, and his first recorded doubts about the permanence of species. It also contains photographs of Darwin and his family, newspaper clippings, reviews of his books and much more. — Reuters