Library question - audio books to ipod

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Alex

(for this reason one library I worked at didn't prevent a patron that came in an photocopied an entire textbook but they could not use our for-fee retrieval-and-copy service for that purpose).

Isn't it considered legal to photocopy X number of pages for research purposes? Or are laws being broken at colleges all across the country?

Or should I say "were being broken" as I wonder how much of this practice still exists in the age of the interwebs.