Copyright in the Classroom

Copyright is the recognition that the creator of a work has the right to control how that work is used. UW's Committee on Academic Integrity has affirmed in a 2007 report that "copyright is a shared interest and responsibility" at UW. For instructors, the complexities of copyright can be confusing when it comes to presenting or sharing texts or images with their students. To simplify this situation, UW has undertaken a license with Access Copyright:

The licence your university has signed with Access Copyright allows professors, students, and staff at your institution to make copies other than those allowed under fair dealing. For example, professors can make multiple copies of a periodical article, enough for every student in the class. Librarians can make multiple copies of a work to put on reserve. Copies can be made for administrative purposes. And multiple copies can be produced by the university bookstore for inclusion in student course packs. There are still limits to the proportion of a work that can be copied. For example, the licence generally limits copying to either 10 percent of a work for personal use (or 15 percent if the copies are to be sold), or the whole of a chapter which is 20 percent or less of a book, a short story, poem, or journal article from a book or periodical issue containing other works, or a newspaper article, whichever is greater. The licence makes it a lot easier for students, professors and administrators to get on with their work and not have to worry whether or not a copy is legal, every time they press that start button on the photocopier. In fact, armed with the licence and the fair dealing provision in the copyright law, you should be able to copy most of the material you need in the course of your day-to-day activities. -- Copying Right: General Information from AUCC.

Questions about UW's Educational Licence with Access Copyright may be directed to Susan Mavor, Head, Special Collections, ext. 33122.

UW has two mechanisms to assist faculty and staff in achieving copyright compliance.

  1. Course Reserves (coordinated by the Library)
    • An explanation of how UW's Course Reserve system works.
    • A FAQ about course reserves.
    • An online form for submitting course reserves.
    • Questions about Course Reserves may be directed to Alex McCulloch, Manager, Circulation Services: Lending, ext. 35326.

  2. Courseware (formerly known as course packs)
    • An explanation of how to create courseware.
    • Questions about courseware may be directed to Sarah Bunte, Copyright Coordinator, ext. 33996.

Courseware and digitally-based course Reserves are an especially good option, considering that a recent UW Library survey revealed that students prefer them to the old-fashioned paper-based reserves: “Many students prefer to get their reserve materials by coursepack [49.8%] and many others prefer electronic reserves [43%]. Very few prefer paper reserves [7%].” -- University of Waterloo Report: Student Perspectives on Reserves, 2004. (Findings and Recommendations).

Resources