Under the “fair use” provision of copyright law, a person may make limited use of another author’s work without asking permission. As I note elsewhere in this guide:
"There's no one right answer as to what constitutes a "fair use" of a particular copyrighted work. The answer varies from situation to situation."
Posting an item to Moodle does not exempt an instructor from copyright regulations. Therefore, instructors are encouraged to consult these guidelines. In order of preference, these include:
Persistent Links:
If you copy a database link from your Internet browser into Moodle, that link will eventually stop working because it is a dynamic, non-static link. To eliminate this problem, most database companies now offer persistent links for their articles. Persistent links (also known as persistent URLs) are stable links that will consistently take students to a particular full-text article in a library database.
Note that to ensure access by off-campus users, all persistent links should include proxy information in the first segment of the URL:
https://ezproxy.mc3.edu/login?url=
For example, if you wanted to link to the following persistent URL (noted in bold) from the "course documents" section of Blackboard, then it should look like this:
https://ezproxy.mc3.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=aph&AN=37818991&site=ehost-live
Need help locating a persistent link in a particular library database? See the Permalinks LibGuide for instructions on obtaining permalinks from EBSCO, JSTOR, Gale, ProQuest, and Project MUSE databases.
This is just a sampling of some of the Open Educational Resources (OERs) available online. If you're looking for specific OERs, the best person to talk to is your librarian!
Please use these examples as a suggested starting point and be sure to use the Fair Use Evaluator, if you deem it appropriate to do so. Also, please be advised that courts are not bound by established standards or guidelines and the Copyright Act contains no such standards. Therefore, we advise that you conduct your own fair use evaluation.
Print Materials:
Distributing Copies
Using Materials Found on the Internet
Using Multimedia
Multimedia works are created by combining copyrighted elements such as movies, music, sounds, graphics, and text. It is recommended that you use only small portions of other people's works.
Suggested limits:
EXCEPTIONS!!! Look for Creative Commons licensing (see the CC logo below), these are works of art, footage, writing which are specifically offered for re-use SO LONG AS THE WORK IS NOT COMMERCIAL. This means, while a student or instructor, you may use these materials. when you begin to use them in any way for profit, you are required to contact the rights owner to license and share in profits.
For more information please see: Creative Commons
and for examples of sites that contain a lot of Creative Commons material, see The Internet Archive.
The following are general guidelines for photocopying materials in support of your classroom lecture. These suggested guidelines are based on our interpretation of Circular 21 [pdf]. Please note that these "best practices" may not fit every situation. Moreover, the courts are not bound by these guidelines and the Copyright Act contains no such guidelines, therefore it's advisable that you still conduct a Fair Use Evaluation.
The limits:
In addition...
The following are suggested limits for copying music in support of your classroom lecture. These suggested limits are based on our interpretation of guidelines that were developed during CONFU. The use of portions larger than those described here may also be permissible, but the user must test a particular application against all four factors of the "Fair Use doctrine" contained in the law (Title 17, U.S. Code, Sec. 107) to determine if it qualifies as fair.
Also, please note that it is permissible to create a compilation CD of separate music tracks for classroom use, if it adheres to the below proportions and limits. These "best practices" may not fit every situation. Moreover, the courts are not bound by these guidelines and the Copyright Act contains no such guidelines, therefore it's advisable that you still conduct a Fair Use Evaluation.
The Limits
Streaming films / copying media
Faculty wanting to copy entire movies to the library's server will first need to obtain written permission from the publisher.. If permission is denied the library may be able to purchase a streamed movie from its vendor. What follows are the guidelines and expectations for this process:
Faculty:
Library:
Recommendations: