Course Reserves: Copyright Policy

Copyright Policy

It is the policy of LaGrange College that all faculty, staff, students and patrons of the Library shall adhere to U.S. copyright law, which can be found at 17 U.S.C § 101 et seq, when using College resources.  Any usage that violates U.S. copyright law is expressly forbidden, and the College will not assume any liability for such violations.  Faculty, staff, students and patrons who willfully disregard this policy and/or applicable copyright law do so at their own risk and assume liability. 

Fair Use

The Fair Use exception may allow use of a copyrighted work without the author’s permission.  Fair use requires a user to look at four factors and do a case-by-case analysis.  The four factors are:

1. What is the character of the use?  Uses that are personal, educational or nonprofit in nature are more likely to be considered fair use than uses for commercial gain. 
2. What is the nature of the work being used?   Original works that are fact-based and published (such as newspapers and magazines) are more likely to be considered fair use than uses of works that are creative (such as short stories or musical scores).
3. How much of the work is being used?  Uses that comprise a small quote or scene from a larger work are more likely to be considered fair use than uses that comprise the of majority of or the entire work. 
4. What is the effect of the use upon the potential market of the work?  If a use reduces the potential market for the work, then it is unlikely to be considered fair use.  

TYPE OF MATERIAL PLACED ON RESERVE

BOOKS, CDs, DVDs, & VIDEOS

Books, CDs, DVDs, and Videos should have been procured by the professor or the library legally through purchase or license. Small portions of a book (up to a single chapter) may safely be copied by the student under the “fair use” clause of the copyright law. However, a professor should never encourage students to make copies without the permission of the author or copyright holder. 

CDs, DVDs, and Videos should never be copied, uploaded, or downloaded.  Doing so is a violation of the copyright law.  See Kelly Ansley regarding the use of small portions of CDs, DVDs, or Videos for educational purposes.

ARTICLES

It is recommended that faculty provide citations to full-text articles that are available in our databases accessed through GALILEO.  By doing so the student learns how to access the databases for which we spend thousands of institutional dollars every year.  Also, the faculty member avoids possible copyright violations because the article is not being copied and distributed by him or her. 

Reprints or copies of articles should never be copied and distributed by faculty. If an article is not available in full-text on one of the databases, a reprint or copy could be placed on reserve but it must bear the library’s copyright statement.  It is always recommended that faculty seek the permission of the author or copyright holder before making a copy of an article to be placed on reserve.