Approximately 1,000 titles a year are added to the stock of books available on records and cassettes, and 300 to the stock of books in braille, an additional library produces several magazines on records and in braille.

Thousands of copyrighted books have been produced in these recordings, with the consent and only with the consent of their authors and publishers who do not request or receive payment for these uses. The issue here is not payment. The issue is not granting consent. The issue is whether a section of the community, of the creative community in this country, which has proved with a 40-year record its ability to make available its property for free use by the blind, whether they should now have that right taken away, because a group of people in public radio say, without any justification, that they must have this done.

Under the present law, the copyright owner's permission is required to make these recordings and to publish braille editions. Let me emphasize we are not dealing with recordings in the musical seetion. Section 1 (c) of the Copyright Act deals with literary works and gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to make a recording by which his work can be presented, and there is no nonprofit limitation. As the Library of Congress recently informed Senator McClellan, publishers and authors have been extremely cooperative in allowing us to record materials on a non fee basis. And we are sensitive to and respect the rights of authors and publishers. And we appreciate the significant contribution in helping us make educational and recreational materials available on braille and on records for use of individuals who cannot read print.

Let me turn and try to summarize briefly my description of the clearance procedures and the production procedures of the Division for the Blind of the Library of Congress, which has produced these thousands of records and made them available across the country under a voluntary system.

Now, requests for permission to produce recordings and braille copies are made by the Division to copyright owners on a standardized clearance form. After the permission is obtained, and it is obtained in almost every case, then without consideration the records are produced.

As I said, thousands of titles are currently in print, as it were, on records and available. And I would like to leave with the committee this 1972-73 catalog [indicating] which is a log of talking book records. This is only the books produced in that year, and not the catalog available in total. This is just the titles produced in that year, so that you will have some idea of the range and diversity of books available on these records. These records are distributed free of charge to blind persons and those whose physical handicaps prevent them from reading print.

I assume that is what the rather clumsy language "print-handicapped" meant. One of our objections to the language itself is that any illiterate or poor reader is print-handicapped. I assume our friends didn't intend to include that.

These are made available across the country without charge through divisional or regional libraries or subregional libraries. Now, these recordings are only available to blind persons. Not only is their distribution limited, but technologically, it just happens that they cannot

be played on ordinary record players because they happen to be recorded at 8/3 r/min, which is not a speed that can be played on ordinary phonographs. They have to be played on special phonograph machines, which are distributed to the blind free of charge by the Library's Division of the Blind and the regional libraries.

Now, these books are the primary and most effective means of bringing books to the special audience of the blind and physically handicapped. The thousand titles currently in print under this voluntary system make available enormous diversity of choice, which radio just can't provide. It takes 8 to 12 hours to read a book aloud. Broadcasting would require several daily installments. Any blind person who happened to be interested in the book that a radio station happened to choose, would have to sit at that set for 8 to 12 hours to hear the book in its entirety.

On talking records, he can choose any book he wishes without charge and listen to it at the time he selects.

Now, this is only by way of setting the background. We are not arguing that radio should not broadcast books. We are simply pointing out that we are not dealing here with some dire emergency that this group of public broadcasters is rushing into the breech to meet. There is a rich and valuable service already provided by the Library of Congress under their voluntary system. We have no objection to subcarrier stations, those which are only received by the blind because of the special frequencies on which they are broadcasting, we have no objections to those stations broadcasting books. But we insist that with a 40-year record of performance, that the Congress can be certain that licenses without charge will be granted by authors and publishers to these stations just as they are granted to the Library of Congress.

We are also certain that we don't deal even with this licensing problem we got into with public radio because the Library of Congress itself can clear these licenses. The Division for the Blind not only licenses the braille editions and records which it produces, but it performs that function for other voluntary, nonprofit organizations which wish to produce this type of material. I dare say that the Division for the Blind, without any great difficulty, could clear these books for use by these closed circuit radio stations, clear them in advance and clear them without any charge at all.

My last point, Mr. Chairman, involves open-circuit radio and television, which means education. Shall I continue?

Mr. KASTENMEIER. Continue.

Mr. KARP. It involves educational or instructional stations which broadcast to the general audience. Here, of course, there is no way of distinguishing between the reading of an entire book or a substantial portion of a book, distinguishing from the entire audience or just to the blind members. The book is read and is read to the whole audience on channel 13 or any other station that would be entitled, under this exemption, to do this.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. May I ask Dr. Sheppard to respond to that point? When you are enabling the local radio station to broadcast, presumably to the blind audience, you have no way of, do you, of insuring that that is the audience you have, in fact?

Dr. SHEPPARD. That is true, Mr. Chairman, if you broadcast on the open channel. Of course, if you are broadcasting on the subchannel, then distribution of the special receiving sets is quite a controllable factor, so there could be no problem there.

Technically, AM stations, and we have some in the public radio system, cannot avail themselves of this kind of transmission because it is technically not available to them. WHA in Madison is one example of a station that cannot institute SCA transmission, because the transmission--because the technology does not exist.

I would also say that for stations that do not have or would not utilize SCA for this purpose, these stations are not going to devote a great deal of their daily schedules to the transmission of this kind of inaterial, because they have an obligation to serve the general audience as well. We are not going to sit in Hersey, Pa., and read the entire morning edition of the Harrisburg Patriot News and then read the afternoon edition of the Harrisburg Evening News. It is not feasible. Mr. KASTEN MEIER. The gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. DRINAN. I am sorry, gentlemen, we have a vote and we just have to go to it. But, I see the controversy. I would hope that it could be resolvable amongst yourselves. I am happy to know all of the things the Library of Congress does. I see the point that Dr. Sheppard brings up, and I would hope that we would consciously or otherwise or inadvertently wouldn't deprive the blind or deaf of any services, but I am impressed by what is now being done. I hope that within the parameters of traditional copyright laws, we can continue that.

As I say, we have to go. I personally cannot come back. But I would welcome any further elaborations of the conflicts involved here, so that we could have that for the record.

Thank you.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. The gentleman from New York.

Mr. PATTISON. Do we plan to come back?

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. We do not. Now is your opportunity to ask questions.

Mr. PATTISON. Well, I congratulate Mr. Karp for his consistency. I congratulate Mr. Hoopes for his inconsistency.

I really think I understand the issue and I don't have any questions. Mr. HOCHBERG. Mr. Chairman, may I add one comment? One of the points Mr. Karp did not and indeed perhaps would not address himself to is the problem that so much of what the services for the handicapped do deals with daily newspapers or news magazines. An attempt to get clearances on any timely basis may well be impossible. Mr. KARP. Mr. Chairman, I would like to emphasize I am not here speaking for the newspaper publishers or publishers of magazines. I am concerned with books, books written by authors. What Mr. Hoopes is telling you is all right with publishers, or the collection of rights that don't usually belong with the publishers to begin with: The right to make recordings, the right to broadcast books on radio and television, and other rights that can be interfered with. But I insist we must make it clear what we are really saying this can be done under a voluntary system, and even the open channels can be licensed under a voluntary system.

We just can't afford to make the political judgment that somehow this book will jeopardize our position under the Mathias amendment, and therefore, we must except it. There is no merit to this.

We think we have shown a very strong history

Dr. SHEPPARD. Mr. Chairman, Dr. Rockwell has a comment.

Dr. ROCKWELL. I would like to briefly state that as not only the director of the Washington Ear, which operates a service for the blind and physically handicapped who cannot read print, but as a long-term user of the Library of Congress program, that there are problems in securing copyright clearance in that best-selling books and particularly books on timely topics often take 2 or 21⁄2 years before they can reach the homes of people who cannot read print copies because of delays. As a matter of fact, I recently was speaking to a member of the Library of Congress saying that because the publishing houses apparently were cutting back on their own staff, that the length of time it took to secure these copyright clearances was lengthening. What the print handicapped, and I agree, I dislike that terminology-or what services such as the Washington Ear are trying to do is to read bestselling books and timely books while they are current and being discussed by the community, to read them on an installment basis. I applaud the fact that the publishers have an excellent record in making books available for the blind and physically handicapped. I have onjoyed many of these myself through the years. But, I would also like to add that the staffs such as at Washington Ear are very, very small. We are operating under many strains. And the procedure of securing copyright clearance would impose a crippling burden upon our operation. I don't think that the Library of Congress is prepared to assume the responsibility for these services, which are located throughout the country in securing clearances for us. They apparently are having their own present difficulties.

Mr. KARP. Mr. Chairman, I think you really have to talk to the Library of Congress, because somehow I get an entirely different picture about how long it takes to clear. I know there are 1971 and 1972 best-sellers in this book, and many of them are by Authors League members. I do know that section 710 of the act would facilitate the clearance procedures, making it almost automatic. What we are proposing here is clearances can be made as early as the day of copyright registration.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. I take it you are not proposing any changes in the law?

Mr. KARP. No, I am asking you to adopt the law as it is.

Mr. KASTEN MEIER. I thank those appearing here.

Mr. KARP. Except for this amendment in the Senate bill.

[The prepared statement of Irwin Karp follows:]

STATEMENT OF IRWIN KARP, COUNSEL, THE AUTHORS LEAGUE OF AMERICA, ON PROPOSED EXEMPTIONS FOR BROADCASTING READINGS OF BOOKS

Mr. Chairman, my name is Irwin Karp, I am counsel for the Authors League of America, the national society of professional writers and dramatists. The Authors League appreciates this opportunity to state its views on proposed exemptions which would permit the broadcasting of books and other literary works, without the author's permission, by non-commercial stations to audiences which include blind or aurally handicapped persons. The texts of these proposals are quoted at the end of this statement.

The Authors League urges that these proposed exemptions should not be added to the Copyright Revision Bill. They are not necessary to bring books to the blind. These exemptions would permit unauthorized broadcasts of books on programs that reach general audiences. They are broadly and ambiguously worded.

DISSEMINATION OF BOOKS TO THE BLIND UNDER THE PRESENT COPYRIGHT LAW

In evaluating the proposed exemptions, it is essential to consider how books are disseminated to the blind under the present copyright law. Sec. 1(a) grants authors the exclusive rights to print and publish copies of their books. These rights cover the production and distribution of braille editions which cannot be published without their permission. Sec. 1(c) grants authors the exclusive rights to make transcriptions or records of their books. These rights include the production of recordings of their books which cannot be made without their permission. Both sets of exclusive rights apply to non-profit as well as commercial uses.

Functioning under these provisions of the present Act, the Library of Congress bas, for forty years, distributed to blind persons across the nation recordings and braille editions of thousands of books. This program is conducted by the Library's Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The Division currently adds approximately 1,000 titles a year to the stock of books available on records and cassettes; approximately 300 titles a year to the stock of books in braille editions. It also produces 23 magazines on records, and 23 in braille.

Thousands of copyrighted books have been produced in these recordings and braille editions with the consent, and only with the consent of their authors and publishers who do not request or receive payment for these uses of their books. As the Librarian of Congress recently informed Senator McClellan, "Publishers and authors have been extremely cooperative in allowing us to record and emboss print materials on a non-fee basis. . . We are sensitive to and respect the rights of authors and publishers, and we appreciate their significant contribution in helping us make available educational, recreational and informational materials in braille and on records for use by individuals who cannot read print.”

THE LIBRARY'S CLEARANCE AND PRODUCTION PROCEDURES

Requests for permission to produce recordings and braille copies of books are made by the Division For the Blind to copyright owners, on a standardized clearance form. After permission is received, recordings or braille editions are produced for it by various organizations. Recordings of books, Talking Books, are produced by two non-profit organizations: The American Foundation for the Blind and American Printing House for the Blind. These are professionally produced recordings. The narrators, often actors or announcers, are paid; the technicians are paid. As we have noted, authors and publishers do not receive compensation for their permission to use their books.

The thousand or so titles currently produced each year on Talking Book records include works in the public domain and hundreds of copyrighted books. The copyrighted works include books in every field: fiction, biography, philosophy, science, education, economics, etc. The list includes established works and current books, including best sellers. You can get some idea of the rich and diverse collection available by glancing through this copy of the adult Talking Books catalog for 1972-1973, listing titles produced in recordings from January 1972 to December 1973.

Talking Book records are distributed free of charge to blind persons and the "physically handicapped." (i.e., those whose physical handicaps prevent them from reading conventional print.) The recordings are borrowed from regional and subregional libraries which obtain them from the Division for the Blind. There is no time limit on borrowing, and it can be done by mail.

TALKING BOOK RECORDS AND BRAILLE COPIES SERVE AN AUDIENCE OF BLIND AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED USERS

Obviously braille copies are used solely by blind persons. Talking Book records also are distributed only to blind or "physically handicapped" persons; and only this audience can use them. Talking Book records are recorded at 81% r.p.m., a speed which cannot be played on commercially produced record players. Special phonographs are required, and these Talking Book machines are loaned without charge to blind and "physically handicapped" persons.

Talking Books are the primary and most effective means of bringing books to this special audience. The vast reservoir of books on records-approximately 10.000 titles are currently available-provides individual users with an enormous diversity of choice radio and television could never approach. It takes from 8 to 12 hours to read a book aloud. Broadcasting it would require several daily