Responses from various people. Thanks Kathy <<<This is why I stop doing them I was contacted by a book owner to not to do lookups. When I get request I delete them.>>> <<<Firstly, as USGenWeb volunteers, we should all be aware of the official policy on Copyrights and Lookups. (Do you CCs know this? Have you asked lookup volunteers to read and comply?) From http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.html "The USGenWeb Project will not tolerate any copyright violations. Lookup requests should be limited to one name, or perhaps two if it is a married couple. Information given should be minimal, for example: * If it is a cemetery lookup, the information should be the name of the cemetery and the dates on the headstone. * If someone asks for "everybody with XX surname" or an entire family group, or for hardcopies to be mailed, please advise that The USGenWeb Project volunteers have been asked not to comply with such requests. Lookups can extend to searching copyrighted material to determine if the material would be helpful to the requester in their research. Should the copyrighted material prove useful, the volunteer can provide the author's address and ordering information. The USGenWeb Project will endeavor to get a WRITTEN statement from each copyright holder which stipulates which books may be used for lookups. See Lookup Permission Statement." A list of authors who have refused to allow lookups is maintained on this web page: http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/authorno.html A list of authors who have explicitly granted permission for lookups is maintained on this web page: http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/authoryes.html Obviously, if Hearthstone Books owns the copyright to the books they publish, and they want to refuse permission for lookups, they have that right. Their name should be added to the list of those refusing permission>>> <<>>> <<>> <<<If the book is in a library anywhere, what can be wrong with looking in it rather than buying it? USGenWeb FAQ page should give insight into the copyright/lookup questions. Maybe we should contact Hearthstone and tell them we will boycot all their publications if this is their attitude?>>> <<<Lookups done under the UsGenWeb policy should be well within the "fair use" copyright laws I think. Generally if I find a lot of information I refer the person to a library which has a very resonably priced copy policy. They will copy up to 10 pages but only if specfic page numbers are given.>>> <<This is the first time I've heard of this. They can stop the advertising of look ups, but I don't see how they can stop look ups. The look ups are in private mail messages. Someone from the company would have to ask for the information maybe? Very interesting.>> <<<If you will go to http://www.iigs.org/newsletter/9904news/index.htm.en you will find a whole section on this subject, including what's OK on the web and what's not.>>> <<>>