Coursepacks are printed collections of readings assembled by teachers to supplement college and university courses.
As copy shops such as Kinko's became a thriving business in the late 1970s and early 1980s, they developed a market for making these coursepacks, offering different sorts of bindings, and so forth.
Primarily as a result of escalating license fees, coursepacks have become a significant expense for students, along with textbooks.
In the United States, the question of classroom handouts received significant attention in the lobbying and negotiation leading up to the 1976 Copyright Act.
[4] Publishers and rights clearance agencies have sued universities in several other countries (Canada, New Zealand, India), in order to require fees for coursepacks or library ereserves.