I would like to know if I can scan a book into my computer to read for myself only without getting into trouble with copyright laws

The short answer is probably not.


If the work is older than 70 years then you are probably in the clear. Otherwise it is probably not legal. If you scan a book into your computer and read the electronic version and then delete it from your computer without distributing or shring the info with anyone else then it is very unlikely that you will get into any trouble.

A sight with helpful info on this topic is :

http://www.lisavollrath.com/lisa/e004.html

And of course all the info on copyrights can be found at:

http://www.copyright.gov/

Good luck!