What Faculty Need to Know About Copyright For Teaching
From American University Library
There are no hard and fast rules for fair use; please use these guidelines with personal judgment.
The Classroom Use Exemption: Copyright law places a high value on educational uses. The Classroom Use Exemption only applies in very limited situations, but where it does apply, it gives clear rights.
To qualify for this exemption, you must: be in a classroom setting, at a nonprofit educational institution, and engaged in face-to-face teaching activities.
If these conditions are met, the exemption gives both instructors and students broad rights to perform or display any works. That means instructors and students can play movies and music, show images, read poems, and act out scenes without seeking permission or giving payment or using fair use evaluation. Note: this does not apply to online teaching environments.
Making Copies: When considering making classroom copies, it is up to the individual to make a fair use evaluation. In case you are unable to determine that copying would constitute fair use, consider:
Link: Whenever possible, link to the resources you are using as opposed to uploading them to your Blackboard site. This standard also applies to items in the library’s collections. To ensure access by off-campus users, use a permalink, or permanent link. See our Faculty Toolkit Guide for instructions on finding permalinks to library resources.
For more information about best practices in an online learning environment, see: Copyright Clearance Center's "Using Course Management Systems: Guidelines and Best Practices for Copyright Compliance"
Instructor is the Rightsholder: If you as the instructor are the rightsholder, you are free to link or upload as you wish. Note: if the work has been published, review the publication agreement you signed to verify you still have permission to share.
This includes lecture notes, PowerPoints, and other instructional materials you have created.
Interlibrary Loan: If you have obtained electronic resources though interlibrary loan, the determination about sharing the item should be made by following Fair Use guidelines.
OER: Open educational resources are academic materials that may be used, shared, and adapted freely. OER include lesson plans, video tutorials, tests, textbook chapters, and even entire courses.
RightFind: For copyright guidelines regarding specific journals, use Copyright Clearance Center's RightFind. Note: you will need to create a free account with your hood.edu email to obtain access.
