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The question whether an individual can scan a book for personal use under the Fair Use provisions is of course currently being tested in a big way by Google. Publishers and other authorial associations are demanding that Google stop scanning books as part of their Google Print/Library project, and Google believes their case is strong enough to allow it to go to court. Google contends that their scanning is in no way harming the commercial potential of an author's work, which is the primary reason why copyright exists. I'm not sure where it is now, but the fact that such a high profile case has gotten this far is a strong sign that there are compelling reasons why individuals should legally be able to scan books that they own for their own personal use. I believe that authors have a right to compensation for their works, and would not use scanning for any other purpose than to convert my own books to a more ergonomic format. Scanning a book for this reason is no different than our making tapes of old LPs that we owned, or in our digitizing them for our iPods. If publishers succeeded in making such an activity illegal, it would radically change the nature of copyright and how we deal with products that we have purchased and now own. Just imagine, it would become illegal for us to make any modifications to our computers, automobiles, stereos, etc etc!
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