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Copyright Policy

Procedures for requesting copyright permission:

  1. Faculty should carefully review the copyrighted material to be used and determine whether they need to obtain permission from the copyright owner or if the document is covered by the principles of fair use. For example, if the journal article has been posted on Canvas or electronic reserve for your class during a semester and you want to use the same article again the following semester, a copyright permission must be sought from the copyright owner. Permission must be sought for each subsequent use.
  2. Faculty are responsible for providing a complete bibliographic citation (including title, author, copyright or publication date, volume, issue and edition of the publication, chapter or article title, and the exact page numbers of the material to be used), and the approximate number of students in the class. Please use the form on the Library's web site for submitting copyright permission requests.
  3. For Canvas requests, faculty should submit a copyright permission form to the library copyright permission center. For electronic reserves, faculty should submit a copy of the reserve form, a photocopy of the article (unless it is already in electronic format), and a copyright permission form to the circulation staff.
  4. In order to have adequate time to process the electronic reserve, materials that are not protected by fair use must be submitted four weeks in advance so that library staff will have enough time to request permission from the copyright owner. Materials will be placed on electronic reserve upon receipt of the faculty request to obtain permission. Permission will be requested immediately.
  5. Library staff will obtain permission from the copyright owner. If permission is refused, the article will be removed from the electronic reserve and faculty will be notified. For Canvas permission requests, faculty will be notified of any refusal.
  6. For electronic reserves, every class will have its own password to access class material. It is the responsibility of the faculty to provide a password on the reserve submission form and to notify their students. The articles on electronic reserve are only available to students in that class. Librarians will not have access to the password or the material and will be unable to assist students who have forgotten the password.
  7. Library staff will disable electronic reserve documents in the system at the end of each semester. As necessary, copyright permission will be required to replace electronic reserve documents in the system.
  8. Documentation of copyright permission will be maintained by the Library copyright permission center.
  9. Course packets should be arranged and distributed through Xanedu: http://www.xanedu.com/. Xanedu will seek copyright clearance and will supply course packets.
  10. Office Services and the Stepan Bookstore will require a copyright permission to be attached to each item for course packets that are to be photocopied for sale in the Bookstore. The copyright permissions must be obtained in advance of reproduction.
  11. The Library will absorb the cost of most copyright fees. However in the case of very high cost the faculty member will be informed of alternatives. The Library reserves the right to refuse to seek copyright or to bill back the cost to the academic department.
  12. Copyright permission is not necessary for the spontaneous use of reading that the faculty needs immediately for a class because it falls under the fair use provision of copyright law. If used subsequently, permission is required. Office Services may reproduce such a reading for the faculty member.