The real question is: May I upload copyrighted materials to my Moodle pages without paying royalties or asking permission of the copyright holder? Scanning is the same as copying, so scans of articles or chapters are subject to the same copyright guidelines as classroom copying. It is important not to place the University at risk of a lawsuit by disregarding copyright requirements.

In most instances, permission must be sought unless the university (the library) subscribes to or owns the source in question. Even if UP owns the source, there are limits to the amount that can be copied/scanned without permission (10% of the whole or 1 chapter/article, whichever is less).

Library staff can help faculty avoid copyright violations by determining whether or not we have ownership, seeking permission on behalf of the faculty member and paying necessary royalties. Just call (503-943-7111) or email library@up.edu if you’d like help with this.

It is the policy on the UP campus to seek permission for multiple classroom copies. An instructor may copy a complete article for their own use in class but permission should be obtained before making a copy for each student. An instructor may copy a 2,500 word excerpt from a journal article or a 1,000-word excerpt from a book chapter for each student without permission.

The printshop can request permissions immediately via the University’s account with the Copyright Clearance Center. The Center has pre-permissions on file for literally thousands of titles, but if your need is so immediate that there is no time to ask permission it is permissible to make copies for classroom use as long as the brevity guidelines are followed.

Not necessarily. Most journals require authors to sign away their copyright ownership. If this is the case, you would need to determine if this was a fair use or whether permission should be sought. For the printshop to make multiple copies you would need to provide proof that you held the copyright before copies would be made without seeking permission.

If you present the statement at the time of ordering, the printshop will copy the articles for you.

Yes. Assuming that your students will purchase the book when it arrives, it would be permissible to copy the first few chapters until the book arrives.

One method is to consider the “Four Factors”:

• The Purpose and character of the use
• 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 Crews/Buttler “Checklist for Fair Use” is a helpful tool to consult and gives a more detailed discussion of each factor.

The real question is how many chapters can be placed on reserve at no cost? If we pay royalties to the publisher we can place almost anything on reserve (although there are some publishers who flatly refuse to give permission for electronic use of their materials)

Whether or not we are able to place items on reserves without paying royalties or seeking permission from the publisher depends on the application of the four factors (see previous answer about "Fair Use"). Generally, the library consults the copyright brevity guidelines which stipulate 1 chapter or 10% of the work, whichever is less. However, slight deviations from the guidelines have sometimes been made if an application of the four factors seems to favor Fair Use. Faculty members shouldn’t necessarily consider this a deterrent – we are always happy to seek permission and pay a reasonable sum for royalties – and in fact are occasionally surprised at the low end cost.

It is a violation of copyright law to duplicate a commercial video that is available for purchase. You should purchase a second copy or schedule the second class at a different time.

Yes, if it was taped less than 45 days ago, it can be placed on reserve for 10 days. If you need the video for a longer period of time or wish to use it again, you should ask the library to purchase a copy for the collection.

Linking to a web site has more to do with licensing agreements than copyright. Generally we always attempt to obtain licenses that allow this. However, it’s a good idea to check at the Reference Desk to make sure the link you’re formulating will work from off-campus. Instructions for how to modify links to work from off-campus are available at Linking to online resources from Moodle.