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Copyright issues for classroom instructors
The Copyright Act of 1976 contains a provision called “Fair Use?which allows educators to use copyrighted material in their classroom on a limited basis. There are four factors that must be met in order to qualify as “Fair Use?of the material.
- The purpose and character of the use, use for non-profit educational purposes or not of a commercial nature
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
The practical translations of these four factors are:
- The purpose of the material must be strictly for educational use
- The material must be a published work andnot consumable, such as a workbook
- The material must be a portion of the original work; such as a chapter of a book, an article from a periodical, or a short clip from an audio or visual creation
- The material must be from an original work legally obtained or purchased and a limited number of copies made, such as for one class
In addition, educators must also meet the tests of brevity and spontaneity. The practical translation here is that only a portion of a work may be copied and that the copied material be used for only one semester. If the material is used for more than one semester, permission must be obtained from the copyright owner for reuse. Assistance is provided in this area.
To summarize:
- You may copy material for use by your students in one class
- You may make copies of an article or a chapter in a book for free distribution
- You must make these copies from an original which you purchased or borrowed from a library
- You may only make copies for one semester use, for use over multiple semesters you must obtain permission.
If you have any questions or need further information or assistance, please contact Nancy DelVecchio, Collection Development Librarian at delvecchion@sacredheart.edu or 371-7701.
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Copyright Issues for Online or Digital Instruction
The TEACH Act (The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization) was enacted in 2002 to address the unique issues of copyright in the areas of distance and digital education. It facilitates the use of copyright-protected material presented in distance education classes and in electronic format for traditional on-site classes.
Provisions of the TEACH Act should be used in conjunction with the Fair Use standards of the Copyright Act of 1976. See the accompanying "Copyright Issues for Classroom Instructors” for an overview of Fair Use. If Fair Use guidelines and the following requirements are followed, copyrighted materials may be used without seeking permission from the copyright owner.
Below is an outline of requirements and responsibilities under the TEACH Act, garnered from The TEACH Toolkit (North Carolina State University)and American Library Association publications.
Duties of Instructors
- Participate in planning and teaching the course
- Provide only materials similar to what is used in a classroom, i.e. provide handouts but do not scan and upload portions of a textbook
- May use non-print resources in limited portions
- May use only legally-obtained copies
- Should direct students to original source where possible, i.e. link to an article in a database rather than digitize the article
- May convert analog materials to digital only when amount is limited to what will be used and another digital format is not available, i.e. digitize a portion of a speech if it is not already available on the internet
- Suggestion: syllabus should include a statement the course materials are subject to copyright law
Technology Requirements:
- Limit access to students enrolled in course
- Limit access to only time needed to complete course section
- Prevent further copying of materials
- Prevent further distribution of materials
- Retain copies of materials but limit access to them
Duties of Institutional Policymakers:
- Institute policies regarding copyright
- Provide materials about copyright to: faculty, students and relative staff
- Provide notice to students that materials in courses may be subject to copyright protection
- Provide materials only to enrolled students
If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Nancy DelVecchio, Collection Development Librarian at delvecchion@sacredheart.edu or 371-7701.