Copyright

The Basics

Whenever you distribute photocopies in class, place copies of materials on reserve, or make scanned copies available on your Canvas course page, it is your responsibility to consider copyright issues and to make good faith compliance efforts. General fair use provisions of the copyright law and the Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying are considered the standard guidelines to employ. ​

When using reserve services at Memorial Library, your submission of a Reserve Request Form is your assurance to us that you have made a good faith compliance effort.

Link when possible

Although reuse and posting rights vary by publisher, nearly all articles or items accessible via Memorial Library's licensed databases may be incorporated (via direct link, not scan) into your own course pages at any time.

Even if the Library has not purchased online access, the work you want your students to use may be available for free on a legitimate Web site, such as an online open archive, the author’s homepage, or an open access journal. Most sites allow students to print a copy for personal use.

If you do link to material licensed by Memorial Library, it is important to capture the link in a manner that includes the authentication information students will need to access the material off campus. Quick instructions are below, or we are happy to help -- just Ask Us!

Link to full text library resources

Off campus access to most of Memorial Library's e-resource subscriptions is limited to Berry students, faculty and staff. A few resources require users to set up personal accounts, but most rely on an intermediate authentication platform that prompts researchers to enter their Berry College Active Directory credentials.

Memorial Library uses OpenAthens to provide off-campus access to subscribed eresources. With OpenAthens you can use either a specially formatted link OR an institutional access link that is included on the resource itself.

The method of capturing the link varies from source to source. In general, look for something called a stable link or permalink. For more detail, check out our Permalinks how-to.

When linking won't do

Although this remains an uninterpreted area, the same fair use provisions of the copyright law and the Agreement on Guidelines for Classroom Copying that provide general guidance are considered to also be useful when a lawfully created electronic copy is not already available. And, although there are no hard and fast rules that govern providing electronic access to copyrighted material, there are a few actions that are generally considered best practices:

• Limit access only to students enrolled in your class. At Berry, Canvas course pages provide the highest level of authentication with the greatest convenience to students, since access is controlled by official enrollment. Other mechanisms include using password protected Adobe Acrobat files on open web pages.
• Limit repeated use of the same material without obtaining permission. Individual faculty members are responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted material, by contacting the author or publisher, or by following your department or school's policies for using services such as the Copyright Clearance Center.
• Limit the extent of the material. In October 2014 the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court of Northern Georgia's decision that had stipulated that in general copying 10% of an item was acceptable under fair use guidelines. How much of a copyrighted work you copy without permission relates directly to the 3rd and 4th of the fair use factors.
• End access at the end of class. Berry students retain access to some Canvas content even after the course is complete. Set scanned items to expire at the end of the semester.