September 3, 2004 @ 11:09am
There is no exemption on the copyright law that allows libraries the right to make copies of materials "in case" they get damaged or stolen.
I'm not sure where the idea came from that libraries could make copies of videos or CDs and then loan the copy.
It could be that when the 3/4 inch videotape format became obsolete, libraries made 1/2 inch copies for those titles not available in the market as replacements. And then it was assumed that this could be done for any media-type item.