Faculty Resources

Copyright law balances the creator's rights with the access of users under the fair use provision of the Copyright Law of the United States. All content used in courses must adhere to the Copyright Law of the United States.

Some content creators choose to license through Creative Commons (CC)

• A Creative Commons (CC) license is administered through a non-profit group, giving creators free access to various licenses depending on how they wish to share and have others access their work
• Attribution requirements (e.g. citations) and permissions to use are also covered under Creative Commons licensing.

As part of Copyright Law, Fair use limits the creator's exclusive rights to allow for certain kinds of use of copyrighted works by students, libraries and other identified entities and users.  

Copyright Law has a specific section about the fair use of content by libraries and archives. 

• Section 108: Copyright exceptions for Libraries and Archives
• Fair use allows for licensed (paid-for) content in libraries to be shared with library members without requiring further clearance through the creator of that content.
• In other words, licensed library content found in the subscription databases at American Sentinel can be used in courses and shared within the USU community using a range of methods e.g. through links.

Fair use is NOT about any use being fair and copyright being too restrictive.

• Both the creator of the content and the user of the content are served through the balancing act of copyright clearance: a process that provides for fair compensation, while ensuring that access is provided to the content in a fair manner.

Copyright clearance means the licensed user (in this case, American Sentinel) can 'copy' or reuse the subscribed to content.

• American Sentinel copyright clearance for licensed database content extends to community members (CURRENT students, faculty and staff)
• This clearance allows the copying or use of the content in coursework, research, and for personal interest
• Users may use database-generated permalinks to share with other community members or link to discussion posts, projects or courses.
• Copyright Clearance does NOT include using licensed library content or vendor logos for commercial purposes or to post it on external websites
• ANY commercial use (e.g. college marketing, business applications, linking, etc.) violates the licensing agreement with the vendor and the copyright of the content owner/creator 
• Linking and reuse outside of fair use violates the licensing agreement and may result in legal action against the institution
• Even with copyright clearance, the user MUST correctly attribute the item's ownership - a common way to accomplish this attribution is through citations (e.g. APA 7 Style)

Library vendors sometimes include Open Access (free) content in the licensed databases that the content creators have cleared for distribution under fair use.

• Open access content doesn’t belong to the site that distributes it (e.g. a library vendor) but to the creator
• Only the creator can provide copyright clearance beyond fair use (e.g. citing and linking into courses)
• For more information on copyright clearance beyond fair use, check the website of the content creator

Open Access (free) content accessed online (outside the licensed library collections) is NOT copyright-cleared for sharing or linking into courses.

• Typically, users can quote from and properly cite content they access on the internet 
• ALL content must be copyright cleared with the creator before it can be legally linked into courses at a for-profit institution

Government works (aka Government documents or Government publications) provide insight into many social, economic, and political issues, from cultural mores to scientific endeavours. Not all government information is published and made available to the public.

• A United States government work is prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government
• Government works  include print and electronic materials produced by federal and state governments in the form of legislative debates and reports, census data, agency or departmental papers, brochures, maps and posters for tourists and a range of other types of content 

Government works are NOT subject to copyright in the United States of America.

• There are NO copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display of the work
• Anyone may, without restriction under U.S. copyright laws:
  • Reproduce the work in print or digital form
  • Create derivative works
  • Perform the work publicly
  • Display the work
  • Distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending