Carleton College Copyright Policy FAQs

I'm confused. Who do I go to for help?

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Please email the Copyright Group (copyright_group@lists.carleton.edu) or contact the Dean of the College Office at (507) 222-4303.

Where can I go to learn about Carleton College's copyright policy?

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Our copyright website (which you're already browsing) is a good place to start.

If you still have questions after reviewing the information on this site, please email the copyright group.

Do I need copyright permission for everything I put on eReserve?

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No, we do not need to get permission for everything placed on eReserve; however, faculty should do a "Fair Use" analysis of each document to determine is copyright permission is necessary. If the document source is a book or journal owned by Carleton/St.Olaf it would weigh more heavily in favor of fair use. For further help in determining fair use you may contact your library liaison.

I want to put an article/book chapter from a source published in another country on eReserve. Can I do that?

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Copyright laws vary from country to country. Reproduction and copyright information is often found in the front of the publication. For further assistance contact you library liaison.

If I can put an article in Moodle for my class, why would I want to use eReserves?

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Carleton library has an eReserves service for scanning or linking to readings, as well as managing, archiving and delivering the class readings over the Internet. Moodle has the capability to link to readings from a course site as well as the ability to gather all course materials and activities from one place. There is no need to choose between these two tools -- you can link from Moodle to the readings in eReserves. Using both tools has the advantage of placing readings into the context of your Moodle course site, as well as taking advantage of the workflow, archival and management services of eReserves.

Some information about copyright talks about fair use and four factors, and some talks about classroom guidelines. What's the difference?

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Fair use is clarified in copyright law in the follow manner: "Fair use of a copyrighted work...for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright (U.S.C Title 17, Section 107).” For use of copyrighted materials to qualify as fair use, it use must be measured against certain criteria, commonly known as the four factors:

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
the nature of the copyrighted work;
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Each of these factors can be open to some interpretation. One helpful resource in thinking through each of these factors for a given use of copyrighted material is the Fair Use Analysis Tool from the University of Minnesota. Each time a copyright protected work is used under the fair use provision, it is important that a four-factor analysis be done.

Perhaps because the four factors are open to interpretation, there have been a number of attempts to establish clear guidelines for different media types and different uses. One such is know as the classrooms guidelines, which includes a list of accepted uses of textual materials that are still under copyright <http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/classguide.phtml>. The best way to assess if a proposed use falls under the fair use provision is to consider it in light of the four factors test. The classroom guidelines provide a minimal interpretation of uses that can be considered fair use.

How long does it take to get copyright permission?

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The amount of time it takes to secure copyright permissions can vary quite a bit. The best advice is to allow as much time as possible to securing copyrights because some copyright permissions can take weeks or longer to clear.

In cases where it is necessary to secure permissions you should consider the following approaches.

Check the work for information about appropriate uses. Increasingly copyright holders indicate appropriate uses of a given work through Creative Commons license agreements that may, for example, allow for noncommercial uses. .
Consider using a copyright permissions service. One fee-based service is operated by Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). If CCC doesn’t have licensed authority to grant immediate permission, it will next make a direct inquiry of the copyright holder for all remaining items.
Obtain copyright permissions directly from the author.

See more information on obtaining permissions.

How much does copyright permission cost, and who will pay?

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The cost of obtaining copyright permission varies from one copyright holder to another, and in most cases depends on the number of pages copied and the number of copies made. Copyright fees can be significant. To support faculty and staff in compliance with the new copyright policy, Carleton has introduced new procedures designed to assist you with the permissions step, and has established a fund to help defray copyright permissions costs for materials placed on eReserve. For materials placed on eReserve, the Library will obtain copyright permission and fees will be covered by the College. Copyright fees for materials included in coursepacks handled by the Bookstore are covered through the sales of the coursepacks. Copyright fees for materials not handled by the Library or the Bookstore are the responsibility of the individual or department seeking copyright permission.

What if I apply for permission, but don't receive it before I need the article for my class?

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If permissions are necessary and they haven’t yet cleared, you should not use the work.

Can I still make a coursepack and sell it through the Bookstore?

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The Bookstore will obtain all necessary copyright permissions through licensing agencies or directly from the copyright holder if necessary to reproduce all coursepack materials. The Bookstore will make all of the arrangements with Printing Services for the design and production of the coursepack. Get more information on the bookstore site.

My professor has given us an assignment to create a website as part of our class project. Do I need copyright permission for images I put on my website?

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Is your website published online for anyone in the world to access? If so, you will need to examine each image using guidelines about images and copyright (like the Image Decison Tool) to see if copyright applies. If someone else owns the copyright, you will need to apply for the rights to use the image.

If your website is a class-related project only, will not be published through the World Wide Web, and will be taken down after the course is completed, you may be able to construct it without seeking copyright permission after establishing this is a Fair Use case. See the "Understanding Fair Use" page for help on establishing this use is a Fair Use.

I'm giving a poster presentation about my summer fellowship project. I have some photos and graphs from articles I found in the library and on the web. Do I need copyright permission to use them on my poster?

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Is your poster presentation being given in an classroom or academic setting only? See the "Understanding Fair Use" page page of this website; you may not need to seek permission for using the visual materials. If you intend to give your poster presentation at an event that is not related to an educational event or location, for example, a business conference, you may need to seek permission. Using a tool like the Image Decison Tool to see if copyright applies, will help you to determine if you need to seek permission.

I'm going to show "An Inconvenient Truth" to my class, but other people on campus might be interested in seeing it, too. Can I open it up to the campus?

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Film showings that are associated with face-to-face teaching activities and are restricted to the members of a course do not require public performance rights for film screenings. Screenings for a broader audience may necessitate securing permissions for a public screening. Learn more about public screenings.

I have been asked to distribute copyrighted materials to a class as part of my job. How do I know if it is OK to do so?

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You have a few options. If the materials are being prepared for use in a course, fair use provisions may or may not apply. The best way to know for sure is to ask the faculty member associated with the course if they have done a four-factors analysis for any of the given works. You can browse this web site for further information about a variety of material types such as text, recorded audio, films and other resources.

There have been a number of attempts to establish clear guidelines for different media types and uses associated with fair use. One such set of guidelines is known as the classrooms guidelines, which includes a list of accepted uses of textual materials that are still under copyright <http://www.lib.umn.edu/copyright/classguide.phtml>. The best way to assess if a proposed use falls under the fair use provision is to consider it in light of the four factors test. The classroom guidelines provide a minimal interpretation of uses that can be considered fair use. However, the best assessment of appropriate fair uses is the four-factors test.

Finally, there is an increasing trend to include clear descriptions of appropriate uses of copyrighted materials with the copyrighted material itself. Some copyright holders have begun to indicate appropriate uses of a given work through Creative Commons license agreements that may, for example, allow for noncommercial uses. <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/>.

Copyrighted materials can take a variety of forms (e.g. images, text, audio, and video) and be stored digitally or through more traditional means. Does the type of resource make a difference in terms of how copyright works?

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Yes, the type of material makes a tremendous difference. See our quick reference by content type for information on images, text, software, web content, recorded music, film, and video.