Copyright and Fair Use

Want to use openly licensed material at no cost to students? Visit the Open Educational Resources guide for materials.

I would like my students to read a wide range of material that is not in one textbook. What are the options?

There are several good ways to provide access to course materials for your students. The best option depends on the material itself.

Placing books or other physical materials on reserve at TTU Libraries works best for optional readings, small classes, or when the selections are fairly short. It does not work well when 50 students are competing for one book during a short period of time.

TTU Libraries license many electronic journals and books for TTU faculty, staff and students. Electronic materials that have been licensed by the UW Libraries can often be used for course readings without additional copyright permission. 

If material is not licensed electronically, reserve use without permission from the copyright owner is generally limited to a single chapter or article. The instructor is responsible for complying with U.S. copyright law. 

Course packs work best for long readings, a large number of readings, or repeated use of non-licensed, copyrighted materials. They also provide students with a convenient, bound copy of the course materials. Students pay copyright permissions fees and photocopy costs. 

Please visit TTU Libraries Reserves, Coursepack and Copyright  (circulation, photocopy, scanning) policies for more details.

What about my syllabus, class notes, tests and papers?

As long as you own the copyright you can place material  your course's Blackboard site. Students own the copyright for papers they write for your class. Student work may also be protected by FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) in addition to copyright law, so you must get student permission in writing before sharing their work.

For TTU licensed electronic materials, can I upload the .pdf to Blackboard?

If the license does not allow you to download the pdf for reserves, you must create a link instead. In most cases, the url that displays at the top of the page will work on campus only. Logging in to a campus web site or portal with an eRaider does not automatically mean that any resources a user tries to access will be proxied. 

Can I just link to an eBook in my course ware or website if the library owns or has it licensed?

Using eBooks for a class is still a developing model. Some vendors allow the Libraries to license their books for an unlimited number of concurrent readers. Others allow only one reader at a time, similar to using a print copy of a book. Students, sharing what is essentially one copy of a book, may not always have access when they want it, especially right before an exam.

How do you know the difference?

E-books provided by Project MUSE, ebrary's Academic Complete, ClinicalKey, AccessMedicine or AccessPharmacy allow an unlimited number of concurrent readers and work nicely for classes. Other vendors are more restrictive.

Consult your subject librarian or liaison if you have questions about linking to an e-book from another provider.

What are my options for music, images or film?

Check out other pages on this guide for guidelines. Contact the Scholarly Communication Librarian or email libraries.copyright@ttu.edu for a for personal consultation.

What's the deal with 'Open'? I keep hearing about it but I like to have the terms explained.

It can be confusing! For more information  visit the TTU Libraries Open Access research guide or the Open Educational Resources  guide.

 

Material	Options	Considerations
Book	Bookstore	Each student has own text Cost to student
	Open Textbooks	Open textbooks save students money Faculty are empowered to edit content Selection of open textbooks is still limited
	Library-licensed eBooks	Not all texts are available as eBooks Some have limited numbers of concurrent users Some have maximum total uses Some can be "checked out", locking out access for other students
	Library Course Reserves	Students share a limited number of copies of book Works best for smaller classes, optional texts or classes where only a small portion of the book is used
Book Chapter	Blackboard or other learning management system Blackboard Help	Faculty are responsible for copyright/license compliance It is rare for use of more than one chapter of a book to be considered fair use.  If additional chapters are needed, please explore other options such as using the book as a textbook, putting it on course reserve or putting the chapters in a course pack.
	Course pack	Copyright royalties are usually paid for book chapters in course packs Students pay all fees by purchasing course pack
Library-licensed eJournal article	Blackboard or other learning management system Blackboard Help	Some licenses allow pdfs to be stored on Blackboard Others require instructors to use link to content
	Course pack	Some eJournal articles can be used royalty free in course packs, others require fees Students pay all fees by purchasing course packs
Library-owned print journal articles	Blackboard or other learning management system Blackboard Help	Faculty are responsible for copyright compliance
	Course pack	Copyright royalties usually need to be paid for copies of print journal articles Students pay all fees by purchasing course pack
Journal article/book chapter from other sources	Blackboard or other learning management system Blackboard Help	Faculty are responsible for copyright compliance
	Course pack	Copyright royalties usually need to be paid for copies of print journal articles Students pay all fees by purchasing course pack
Media	Library-licensed streaming media	TTU Libraries has licensed videos and audio tracks for patrons
	Library Reserves for physical items	Works best for smaller classes, optional materials or short selections
		Instructors are responsible for copyright/license compliance
	Streamed media	If you intend to use many feature films (i.e. popular Hollywood titles), you might consider asking your students to subscribe to a third party streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, among others
Instructor generated material		Excellent option for syllabi, assignments, sample tests, and so on
Student generated material		FERPA and copyright apply -- need permission to post material