Fair use provides us with this possibility, and it's not a giant leap to argue that perhaps coordinated copying through such a centralized server could constitute fair use, especially if docster didn't compete with commercial interests. Well, it's still a big leap, but think of the benefits. Say there's an article from 1973 that's suddenly all the rage. But 48 other researchers want that article, too. If that first patron uses docster, any of those other folks also using docster can just grab the file from the first requester.
Nobody has to go scan that article again, and suddenly there is redundant digital storage.
Let the librarians librarize Still, though, we're not doing enough to enforce copyright. This system keeps publishers happy but keeps librarians chasing our collective tails. But because we're so good at making sure we make payments, we could leverage that structure within docster. For the several hundred or thousand researchers in a given field with a departmental library at a big institution, their docster requests go through their library. The requests, that is, not the files.