I'm curious what titles you have in pdf! Would be very interested in that too.

The latest one is the 3rd edition of John Huntington's Book Control Systems for Live Entertainment, it's actually available in a Kindle edition. Beyond that it's mostly manuals that I download and keep in a folder on my hard drive, and now working on getting onto my server so I can get to it anywhere I have a net connection.

yep, we called those "Kinko's packets". I used them extensively my first two years until Basic Books v. Kinko's ruled that it was copyright infringement.

Then you just had to buy them through the bookstore so they could pay rights and charge you $150.

Still more useful than 90% of textbooks.

Then you just had to buy them through the bookstore so they could pay rights and charge you $150.

Which I really object to actually. In one of my classes, the faculty member had us pass around her articles and each of us made 25 copies for the class and they we collated after class.

How is this materially different than buying a course packet at Kinko's? yes, I know they were making a profit and had to completely change their business model as a result, but all it did was shift the behavior to the individual student and it was a pain in the ass.

Wait, you object to the bookstore paying the authors for rights to their articles? I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean. Maybe I was unclear? The cost went up because the university bookstore was actually obtaining (and paying for) rights to reprint. Which is a good thing, painful as it was at the time.

The scenario you describe only differs from Kinko's in being way more inconvenient.

being at the other end of this, I never have seen any royalties from materials I've written being used in classes. I thought this was a way that publishers hosed students, is what I mean. yes, of course I think authors should be paid, but I'm not sure they are.

I think a lower royalty rate should have been negotiated.

I thought this was a way that publishers hosed students, is what I mean. yes, of course I think authors should be paid, but I'm not sure they are.

I can tell you that getting and paying for permissions is a huge process for us. From photos to art to cartoons to text, it can be quite expensive depending on what we are using.

In scholarly materials, often the publishers hold copyright, so they get any royalties (I am thinking especially of scholarly journals). It all depends on the contract the author signed at the time of publication. The whole system has been transferred to e-reserves now, of course, though with the advent of licensed content it can be a little different.

From photos to art to cartoons to text, it can be quite expensive depending on what we are using.

yes, and a pain in the butt.

Especially when you have no idea of cost while you are preparing the book.

Using some art by Renoir is @ $100, other things are $500+. I remember we had a whole activity in my first project using that ubiquitous Doisneau photo of the people kissing, but it ended up being too expensive to get rights so everything had to be scrapped.

In one of my classes, the faculty member had us pass around her articles and each of us made 25 copies for the class and they we collated after class.

As the AA for a college department, I have to have each professor do a copyright worksheet to determine if the material they are handing out constitutes "Fair Use". Then, if it is not fair use, I have to go on a website and purchase the right to Xerox all class materials that are not under copyright (and everything is). Since this is a fairly new policy, some of the older professors have things that they have no idea where they came from, and I have to try and investigate or tell them I can't copy them.

We also have to pay a per student copyright fear to put an article on reserve at the library or on e-reserve.

If the content is available for free on the internet, we are allowed to tell the student where to go to read it, but it is a really grey area.