Library Express policies are influenced primarily by two external sources:
- Copyright and Fair Use
- The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." if a user makes a request in excess of "fair use" that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if in its judgements, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. Requests for multiple articles in the same journal issue are not fulfilled due to copyright law. See: Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17).
- American Library Association: Interlibrary Loan Code for the U.S.
- This code establishes principles that facilitate the requesting of material by a library and the provision of loans or copies in response to those requests. In this code, "material" includes books, audiovisual materials, and other returnable items as well as copies of journal articles, book chapters, excerpts, and other non-returnable items. See RUSA's Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States.