Dissemination of Copyrighted Material
WebCT provides a password protected environment, so the same Fair
Use guidelines which apply to disseminating material in a class
setting apply to posting material in WebCT. BC's
policy concerning copyright issues is in accordance with U.S. Copyright
Law as applied in the Agreement
On Guidelines For Classroom Copying In Not-For-Profit Educational Institutions
With Respect To Books And Periodicals, stated under the instructions
on course
reserves.
Use of copyrighted material on an academic website such as a WebCT course
is not particularly clear cut. However, there are some helpful guidelines
available:
- All copyrighted materials, such as exercises, case studies, articles,
etc. are acceptable to post on the website as long as either the department
or the institution have purchased a licensed copy of the copyrighted
material. For example, if an article can be found on Lexis-Nexis, you
can make that article available on a course site since the library
has purchased a license to Lexis-Nexis. You may not post copyrighted
material that is a part of your personal collection. If you are using
a resource that hasn't been acquired using university or department
funds, make sure your department owns a copy or contact your subject
specialist in the Library to make sure the university has or can
obtain one.
- Treatment of material should conform to the "Fair Use" standards
established by law to allow and govern the reproduction of works for
special purposes such as teaching. In practice, this means:
- Files with video clips and links to streaming video must be
placed in a password-protected site, such as WebCT.
- Typically, a clip can be no longer than 10% of the entire program.
If the "teachable moment" exceeds 10% of the video
or if you wish to stream a program in its entirety, the university
will need to obtain a digital license. Not all publishers make
their programs available this way. If you have a question regarding
how to obtain a digital license, please contact Mark
Caprio in the Media Library.
- A reference crediting the source should be visible on the website,
with a warning against inappropriate use of the material.
There is a wealth of information available regarding copyright and academic
institutions. Below are a number of useful links:
- On every WebCT page, a 'copyright'
link is placed in the course menu. The information was prepared by
and for members of the Boston College community. This document is an
excellent summary of 'Fair Use,' the TEACH Act (which addresses copyright
concerns related to online teaching and digital material) and basic
copyright information.
- A summary
list of links to guidelines on copyright
- If you are not sure if your material can be posted on the website,
use the following two pdf checklists compiled by the NC State Libraries
to see if your material complies with copyright law: Basic
Checklist and Expanded
Checklist.
- If you have further questions regarding the use of copyrighted material
for an academic website, please contact: eteach@bc.edu
Shorter items placed on reserve are generally scanned and placed on
e-reserve (or linked there directly, if available electronically). E-reserves
are accessed through "Course Reserves" in Quest, which can be linked
to a WebCT site for convenience. Further questions about copyright,
length of readings and best time-frames for processing material through
e-reserves should be directed to the reserves desk at O'Neill
Library.
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