Course Materials and Copyright

Order textbooks through the Campus Store’s VIU Textbook Adoption. If you have any questions regarding textbook adoptions, contact Debbie Richards at Debbie.Richards@viu.ca

If you have decided to adopt an Open Textbook for your course, please note that the Campus Store will offer printed copies of your BC Open Digital Textbook for purchase.

Please note that due to publisher restrictions, most digital textbooks cannot be made available through the Library.

Course reserves will be available at VIU Library for the Spring 2021 semester.* To place print books, CDs, and videos on reserve, please fill in the online request form at Course Reserves. Loan period options for Spring 2021 course reserves are 3 days, 7 days, or 14 days.

*The Library is able to offer this service as long as it continues to adhere to provincial health guidelines with regard to Covid-19; please be aware that it is subject to change.

There may be some restrictions on using textbook supplementary materials in VIULearn. Consult the Terms of Use for the supplementary materials or contact the textbook publisher. You may be able to include material based on the Fair Dealing Exception in the Copyright Act. Contact Copyright@viu.ca

Order custom courseware through the Campus Store’s VIU Custom Courseware Adoption. If you have any questions regarding custom courseware, contact Janice Speed at Janice.Speed@viu.ca

The Campus Store is diligently working to make as many materials available digitally as possible to accommodate the shift to online learning, including offering a digital option, along with the physical option, for all custom courseware.

Please note that many library-licensed materials may be used in coursepacks. Contact your Liaison Librarian or Research.Help@viu.ca to confirm if the material is licensed for coursepack use.

VIULearn is an excellent choice for student access to course materials that also helps with copyright matters because it is secure, password-protected, and only accessible by students enrolled in your course.

The easiest method to provide access to course materials is to create a link in VIULearn.

For library materials, use a stable link. Consult VIU Library’s Stable Links Guide and CIEL’s Creating a Link in Content. Most library-licensed materials allow stable links. (Note that Harvard Business Review does not permit linking to articles under its license.)

For material on the internet, first ensure you are linking to a legitimate and reputable site and not to copyright-infringing material that has been posted without the consent of the copyright owner, and that might consequently be subject to take-down at any time. Read any website Terms of Use to make sure linking is not explicitly prohibited. Do not “frame” the other webpage content, and by the link you should also include a citation with the author, copyright owner, and source of the materials, to ensure it is clear the website content is not your own material and you are not affiliated with it.

In cases where a link is not available, you may upload course materials if

• you are the copyright owner;
• you have received permission from the copyright owner;
• the material is in the public domain;
• the material is licensed for such use (e.g., Library license) or has a permissive license (e.g., Creative Commons License); or
• you have conducted a Fair Dealing analysis.

If you want to digitize physical materials to upload to VIULearn, there are several options, including:

• Using phone apps (e.g., Genius Scan, Adobe Scan) to digitize materials, and using an OCR tool to make the digitized materials more accessible
• Using VIU Print Services

In each case, when digitizing materials it is your responsibility to ensure you are complying with copyright laws and copying within the limits allowed. See the Fair Dealing Exception or contact copyright@viu.ca

Library Digital Materials

Posting stable links to Library materials in VIULearn (rather than uploading a PDF) ensures students are accessing the most recent version of an article and is more likely to be copyright compliant. Consult VIU Library’s Stable Links Guide and CIEL’s Creating a Link in Content. Read the license’s Terms of Use for materials to see if linking to or distributing digital copies to students is allowed. Example of the Terms of Use for a licensed journal.

The Library collection includes thousands of open access (OA) journal titles, as well as open books and other open content, that are selected for relevance to learning and scholarship at VIU. Find OA versions of materials using Library OA search and/or Google Scholar (VIU access).

For more information on OA and Open Education Resources (OERs), consult the VIU Library OA Guide

Library Physical Materials

Cowichan and Nanaimo campus libraries are open and the collections are available for in-person browsing. Mail delivery of library materials is also available. To request materials for delivery by mail, place a hold through the Library’s catalogue and select "VIU Library - Mail Delivery" as your pickup method when placing your hold. To return your materials, use Library bookdrops at Nanaimo and Cowichan campus libraries or use the pre-paid postage provided if you had your materials mailed to you.

Course reserves will be available at VIU Library for the Spring 2021 semester.* To place print books, CDs, and videos on reserve, please fill in the online request form at Course Reserves. Loan period options for Spring 2021 course reserves are 3 days, 7 days, or 14 days.

If you need an article or book chapter from a print source in the Library collection to include as a digital course reading in your VIULearn course, please contact library.reserves@viu.ca. The Library will scan the material and email it to you in PDF format. Please ensure your request is copyright compliant. See these fair dealing guidelines or contact copyright@viu.ca for more information.

*The Library is able to offer this service as long as it continues to adhere to provincial health guidelines with regard to Covid-19; please be aware that it is subject to change.

The Library does not typically acquire course textbooks for the collection. Liaison librarians are happy to consult with faculty about alternatives to commercial textbooks, such as creating custom reading lists from resources already available through the Library, and finding Open Access (OA) materials, Open Education Resources (OERs), and Creative Commons licensed resources.

Always consult the Licenses/Terms of Use for Open Education Resources (OERs) or Open Access (OA) materials before use.

The Library collection includes thousands of OA journal titles, as well as open books and other open content, that are selected for relevance to learning and scholarship at VIU. Find OA versions of materials using Library OA search and/or Google Scholar (VIU access).

For more information on OA and OERs, consult the VIU Library OA Guide

You can browse BCCampus’s Open Textbooks 101 for guidance on available open textbooks and adoption processes. If you have decided to adopt a BC Open Digital Textbook for your course, the Campus Store will offer printed copies for purchase.

The easiest method is to provide a link to the material because this does not entail making a copy. First, ensure you are linking to a legitimate and reputable site and not to copyright-infringing material that has been posted without the consent of the copyright owner, and that might consequently be subject to take-down at any time. Read any website Terms of Use to make sure linking is not explicitly prohibited. Do not “frame” the other webpage content, and by the link you should also include a citation with the author, copyright owner, and source of the materials, to ensure it is clear the website content is not your own material and you are not affiliated with it.

Materials in the public domain are not copyright protected and you may copy and distribute them. However, finding and using public domain materials can be tricky. Consult this helpful Public Domain Guide and/or Public Domain Flowchart.

The Fair Dealing Exception in the Copyright Act allows any person to use a copyrighted work for the allowable purposes of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, or news reporting, without the copyright holder’s permission. To qualify for the fair dealing exception, two tests must be passed: Is the dealing for an allowable purpose? Is the dealing “fair”?

The CMEC Fair Dealing Guidelines and Section III of CAUT’s Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Material are helpful for conducting a fair dealing analysis for an educational setting. For further support, contact copyright@viu.ca

Fair dealing is an interpretation. To lower risk, consider the guidelines above and the following best practices:

• use the content only once;
• use the smallest amount of the work necessary for your purpose and consider the “short excerpt” amounts in the CMEC and CAUT guidelines above;
• make the content accessible for the smallest amount of time possible to a narrow audience of your students in a password-protected learning management system (e.g., VIULearn);
• remove content as soon as it is no longer needed;
• document all the materials used under fair dealing to be consistent and to have a record of your decision-making process in case of a challenge; and
• include a copyright notice, so that students understand the material may be copyrighted and should not be further distributed or posted online.

Sample copyright notice for fair dealing material:
“This copy is made solely for your personal use for research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism or review only. Further reproduction, fixation, distribution, transmission, dissemination, communication, or any other uses, may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner. You may not distribute, email or otherwise communicate these materials to any other person.”

If the materials or images are short excerpts that qualify for the Fair Dealing Exception in the Copyright Act, then you may use them in your slide decks and distribute them to your students. See the Fair Dealing Exception or contact copyright@viu.ca

If the materials or images are in the public domain, then there is no copyright protection and you may use them. However, finding and using public domain materials can be tricky. Consult this helpful Public Domain Guide and/or Public Domain Flowchart.

If the materials or images are permissively licensed (e.g., Creative Commons License) or open access, then you may use them in your slide decks according to their Terms of Use, which usually includes attribution among other terms.

This Image Source Guide has links to sources for public domain images and images licensed for reuse. Always read the copyright and licensing information for the image you want to use and follow the Terms of Use.

If you are seeking permission from a commercial publisher, such as a book or journal publisher, then you may be able to quickly obtain permission through the Copyright Clearance Center.

If you cannot obtain permission through the CCC, you may want to contact the publisher directly, using their website’s Permissions, Reprints, or Copyright service.

The following template may also be helpful for directly contacting publishers or individuals for copyright permission:

SUBJECT LINE:  Copyright permission request for ARTICLE/GRAPH/IMAGE/OTHER

MONTH DATE, YEAR

Attention:  PUBLISHER OR COPYRIGHT OWNER

I am requesting permission to

SCAN OR DIGITIZE AND DISTRIBUTE TO MY STUDENTS

UPLOAD TO A PASSWORD-PROTECTED ONLINE COURSE

UPLOAD TO ELECTRONIC RESERVES

SAVE ON MY STUDENTS’ CD/DVD/MEMORY STICK

the following:

Authors or creators of the work (year of the work). Title of the work. Journal or book or Website the work appears in. City of publication: Publisher. Volume, issue, pages of the work. URL of the work.

Approximately ## UNDERGRADUATE/GRADUATE students will access the work during the 2020 WINTER TERM (JANUARY - APRIL) on a Vancouver Island University password-protected Website.  The course name is CODE ### COURSE TITLE GOES HERE.  No profit will be gained from the use of the work.

Please confirm if permission is granted to use the work.  If you prefer to grant blanket permission for the work, please indicate that preference in your response otherwise I will renew my request as necessary.

Thank you.

TITLE, NAME, DEGREE
DEPARTMENT, FACULTY
ROOM NUMBER AND BUILDING NAME
Vancouver Island University
Nanaimo, BC
Canada  V9R 5S5
TELEPHONE NUMBER

The Library has films and videos that are licensed for use in courses, including online films and videos.

Commercial streaming services such as Netflix, Crave, etc. are for individual users, who must comply with their Terms of Use. For example, you wouldn’t be able to show a Netflix film to students in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, if students are individual subscribers of a streaming service, then they would be able to watch a film independently with their own accounts. However, some students may not have access to those services and streaming services may have different content available in various countries.

If you want to show your students a video from the internet for an educational or training purpose, then you may show the video as long as

• the video is available through the internet;
• you did not break or circumvent a technological protection measure (digital lock) that restricts access to the work or to the internet site;
• there is no clearly visible notice (not merely the copyright symbol) on the website or on the video itself that prohibits the use or reproduction of the video;
• you do not suspect that the video was posted without the consent of the owner of the video; and
• you identify the source of the work and, if available and applicable, the author, performer, maker, or broadcaster of the work. 

What can you do if you have a scheduled screening for a film that is not available online and your course is online-only?

Please contact copyright@viu.ca to find out what may (or may not) be possible. 

The Library may be able to convert content on a DVD to streaming video for required (not supplemental or optional) course content. Please contact copyright@viu.ca for more information on the service and copyright law requirements. Depending on the time of year, there may be higher volumes of conversion requests; instructors are encouraged to submit requests well in advance of scheduled student viewing to ensure time for vetting and recording the content.

Educational versus Entertainment

If you want to show a film or video for entertainment purposes (not for educational purposes), then you would be required to obtain a license. For example, Library-licensed videos, many Internet videos, and other videos such as physical DVDs do not allow public performance for entertainment purposes. Contact Criterion Pictures and Audio Cine Films to find out more about public performance licenses.

Please contact copyright@viu.ca if you are unsure if your intended use is for educational or entertainment purposes.

The Library has both streaming and physical audio recordings that are licensed for use in courses.

Commercial streaming services such as Apple, Spotify, etc. are for individual users, who must comply with their Terms of Use. For example, you wouldn’t be able to play audio from these services to students in the classroom. Outside of the classroom, if students are individual subscribers of a streaming service, then they would be able to listen independently with their own accounts. However, some students may not have access to those services and streaming services may have different content available in various countries.

If you want to play audio recordings from the internet for an educational or training purpose, then you may as long as

• the audio is available through the internet;

• you did not break or circumvent a technological protection measure (digital lock) that restricts access to the work or to the internet site;

• there is no clearly visible notice (not merely the copyright symbol) on the website or on the audio itself that prohibits the use or reproduction of the audio;

• you do not suspect that the audio was posted without the consent of the owner(s); and

• you identify the source of the work and, if available and applicable, the author, performer, maker, or broadcaster of the work.

Consider using public domain versions or open educational resources.

If you would like to play audio recordings beyond fair dealing amounts in your course, then please contact copyright@viu.ca to find out what may (or may not) be possible.

If you are looking for music to make videos or for other uses, these music communities provide music shared under various licenses (always read the license to see if it applies to your use).

Educational versus Entertainment

If you want to play music for entertainment purposes or as background music (not for educational purposes), then you would be required to obtain a license. Visit SOCAN and Re:Sound for more information about licensing fees.

Please contact copyright@viu.ca if you are unsure if your intended use is for educational or entertainment purposes.

Most of the copyright considerations are the same whether teaching in-person or online (except for audiovisual works and musical works/sound recordings), especially when access is limited to students enrolled in your course. When recording or live-casting lectures that include slides or other content, you will be copyright compliant when using third-party materials if

• you have received permission from the copyright owner;
• the material is in the public domain;
• the material is licensed for such use (e.g., Library license) or has a permissive license (e.g., Creative Commons License); or
• you have conducted a Fair Dealing analysis.

The difference between using audiovisual works and musical works/sound recordings online and in the physical classroom (such as showing a film or playing an audio recording) is more complex. If you wish to use more than fair dealing amounts, then contact copyright@viu.ca.

You may be able to use copyrighted works beyond fair dealing amounts if they qualify for the Copyright Act’s educational exception for reproducing works available through the Internet (s. 30.04) or for reproducing a lesson for e-learning (s. 30.01). Both uses have certain conditions that must be met to not violate the Copyright Act. Please read the applicable linked sections of the Copyright Act (s. 30.01 or 30.04) or contact copyright@viu.ca

You may wish to include a copyright notice to remind your students that course materials are typically copyright-protected and should not be further distributed or posted online. For example, you may not want students to distribute course materials you have created such as presentation slides, recordings, or assignments. Students also should not be distributing course materials that are provided to them in their courses under specific Terms of Use, Permissions, Library licenses, and Fair Dealing or Educational Exceptions.

Some faculty are happy to share the course materials they have created and use a license (e.g., Creative Commons License) to indicate how their work may be shared and under what terms. Remember that the material you did not create may be copyright-protected and you have used it under specific Terms of Use, Permissions, Library licenses, and Fair Dealing or Educational Exceptions and thus it should not be further distributed by your students. It is helpful to indicate clearly what is your own content that you have shared under your license (e.g., Creative Commons License) and what is third-party content that should not be shared further.

Sample notices alerting students to copyright considerations

General copyright statement to protect both faculty-created materials and other copyright-protected materials:

“The materials you receive for this course are protected by copyright and to be used for this course only. You do not have permission to upload the course materials to any website. If you require clarification, please consult your professor.”

Statement for individual course materials you did not create and are distributing to your students and/or uploading to VIULearn:

“This copy is made solely for your personal use for research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism or review only. Further reproduction, fixation, distribution, transmission, dissemination, communication, or any other uses, may be an infringement of copyright if done without securing the permission of the copyright owner. You may not distribute, email or otherwise communicate these materials to any other person.”

VIU student works included in VIUSpace are publicly available and must comply with Canadian copyright law. Students are also required to agree to the VIUSpace submission form. Student theses and other works often incorporate copyright-protected materials not created by the student. They will have to determine whether or not these copyright-protected materials require permission for inclusion in their work.

Students cannot assume the Fair Dealing Exception applies for the use of copyright-protected materials in their work because the use may not be considered “fair,” particularly with the online availability of the student work to the public through VIUSpace. A careful fair dealing analysis would have to be conducted. Students will need to consider whether they require permission from the copyright owner if their work will be available online through the VIUSpace repository, or elsewhere. The following guide is intended to help students with copyright considerations for their work. For further support, please contact copyright@viu.ca

Materials typically requiring permission

The following list describes materials that need to be investigated and may require permission from the copyright holder. Unless the material has a license where the use is permitted (e.g., Creative Commons license), is in the public domain, or is considered “fair” after a fair dealing analysis, the student will need to seek permission. The following list is not exhaustive, and using other substantial amounts of copyright-protected work may require permission.

• Images, such as tables, figures, photographs, maps, illustrations, screenshots, etc. from any source, including those freely available online
• Adaptations (or altering) of images, such as those listed above
• Entire articles or book chapters, parts of articles or books, or other works that the student has previously published, including publications co-authored with others
• Long excerpts or quotations from any one source
• Testing instruments, such as surveys, questionnaires, validated tools, standardized tests, forms, etc.
• Scripts, recordings, or other fixations of a performance (e.g. audio or video clips)
• Translations of copyright-protected work

Methods for obtaining permission

Students should keep track of materials as their work is being written. For various reasons, replies to permission requests may be quick or take a long time. It is important to begin asking for permissions as soon as possible.

Identify the copyright owner of the material, which may be indicated alongside the material itself (e.g., photo caption or figure citation) or may appear elsewhere (e.g., first page of an article or footer of a website). Always start with the item itself and then look more broadly for copyright information.

Copyright permission from commercial book and journal publishers may be obtained quickly using the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) or through a form or email contact on the publisher’s website. Start with the CCC and then try the publisher’s website if not available through the CCC. Keep a copy of the permission and follow the terms of use, including how to cite the material.

Some copyright permissions may need to be requested from individuals, governments, or organizations. Obtain written permission, and see below for what to include in a permission email request. Follow any terms of use and keep a copy of the permission, including how to cite the material.

Sample copyright permission request

A comprehensive email to which a copyright owner can reply “yes” counts as written permission and reduces the need for several emails.

The following template can be adapted according to a student’s specific context:

SUBJECT LINE:  Copyright permission request for ARTICLE/GRAPH/IMAGE/OTHER

MONTH DATE, YEAR

Attention:  PUBLISHER OR COPYRIGHT OWNER

I am requesting permission to include in my THESIS/POSTER/OTHER the following material:

CITATION, e.g, Authors or creators of the work (year of the work). Title of the work.  Journal or Book or Website the work appears in. City of publication:  Publisher.  Volume, issue, pages of the work.  URL of the work.

DESCRIBE USE/CONTEXT/CHANGES IF ADAPTING

My project, entitled TITLE OF WORK, is part of the requirements needed to graduate from the NAME OF DEGREE/PROGRAM at Vancouver Island University. 

My work may be available in print from the Library at Vancouver Island University. It may also be accessible for free to a worldwide audience from the Library's digital repository called VIUSpace located at http://viuspace.viu.ca/.

Please reply to confirm whether permission is granted to include the above-mentioned material in my TITLE OF WORK by DATE.

Thank you.

NAME

DEPARTMENT, FACULTY

ROOM NUMBER AND BUILDING NAME

Vancouver Island University

Nanaimo, BC

Canada  V9R 5S5

TELEPHONE NUMBER

E-MAIL ADDRESS

Students own the copyright in the works they create in their courses (except for third-party content they are using but did not create). If you want to use examples of student work in current or future courses, then you have to obtain the student’s permission (unless the use is considered insubstantial or Fair Dealing, and both determinations require an analysis that can be complex).

For the third-party material used in a student work, you will need to confirm the student obtained the copyright owner’s permission or the materials are in the public domain, used under the Fair Dealing Exception, or licensed for such use (e.g., Creative Commons License).

The best practice is to ask for student consent in writing. You may want to specify the work you are using, your uses of the work, the distribution methods (e.g., posting in VIULearn), the time limits (e.g., for the current course or for future courses), and the citation for how the student wants to be credited or perhaps remain anonymous for privacy reasons. You may also want to consider whether you will provide students with a post-consent opportunity to ask for their work to be removed from your teaching materials.

Currently, there are no workshops scheduled.

Have suggestions for a workshop or training session?

Get in touch: copyright@viu.ca

Past Events

CREATE Drop-in Sessions

Please drop-in to get your questions answered about using materials you didn't create in your posters, presentations, and other CREATE activities!

• Find out how to locate images with minimal copyright concerns
• Determine if you need permission to use something and how to obtain it
• Learn how to cite material you didn't create, including attributions related to any copyright permissions or licenses allowing your use of the material

Registration is not required! Please drop in via Zoom:

• March 16, 9-10am PT
• March 18, 4-5pm PT
• March 26, 11:30-12:30pm PT
• March 29, 3-4pm PT

Copyright - Let us know what you need!

You are invited to attend a February Copyright Office Q & A session:

• Ask questions about copyright and open licensing support for your teaching, learning, research, creative, administrative, and other university activities
• Tell us your needs and hopes to provide us guidance for the Copyright Office's copyright and open licensing education framework

Registration is not required! Please drop in:

• February 17, 10-11am PST via Zoom
• February 25, 1-2pm PST via Zoom

Have questions or cannot attend and want to get in touch? Email Copyright@viu.ca