Copyright Compliance: Best Practices

This guide provides legal information but does not constitute legal advice.

Harvard Business Review articles?

• You may not link to or use them in your course in any way.  All Harvard Business Review articles in EBSCO are accompanied by a notice of use restrictions, which indicates that they are “not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions,” and that the content may not be used in “electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi, or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources.”

YouTube videos?

• You may show the YouTube video in your F2F classroom.
• You may link to the video in your LMS.
• You may reproduce or otherwise incorporate 3 minutes (or 10%, whicever is less) of a YouTube video and provide the file in your LMS.
• If you would like to reproduce or otherwise incorporate more than 3 minutes (or more than 10%) of a YouTube video and provide the file in your LMS, you should seek permission from the copyright holder.

Netflix?

• Even if you have your own Netflix account, you should not show video from Netflix in your classroom, as it is expressly prohibited in the Netflix user agreement.

Workbooks?

• You should seek permission to provide PDFs from a workbook or other “consumable” text.
• In the rare case that the purpose for using the workbook in your class is substantially changed from the original purpose of the workbook, you may be able to provide a PDF of a limited portion of the workbook in your LMS.  An example of this would be having social work students study a workbook intended for consumption by patients/clients.

Poetry?

• You may link to a legally-obtained online version of a full work in your LMS.
• You may provide in your LMS a copy of a poem of 250 words or less that exists on two pages, or less or 250 words from a longer poem.

Student work?

• You should obtain permission from the student to use their work.

The guidelines on this page have been created by the Simmons University Library for use by the Simmons Community and are intended to provide responses to Frequently Asked Questions in applying U.S. copyright law. As with any Best Practices this information is subject to interpretation and is not legal advice. 

Articles

From a single issue of an electronic journal held by the Library

• You may provide links to any number of articles in your learning management system (LMS).

From a single issue of a print or electronic journal NOT held by the Library

• You may provide a PDF of one article in your LMS for one semester. For additional articles for the first semester, and for all articles in subsequent semesters, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder.

Books

• If the Library owns the e-book, place it on reserve for your F2F and online/distance students. All students will be able to access it. If the Library does not own the book, request that the Library purchase it.

• If the Library owns the book, place it on reserve for your F2F students and instruct your online/distance students to purchase it. If the Library does not own the book, request that the Library purchase it.
• You may provide a PDF of one chapter (or up to 10%) of the book in your LMS.
• If you wish to provide access to more than one chapter (or more than 10%) as a PDF in your LMS, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder.

Audio-Visual Recordings

• You may place a CD on reserve for F2F students and instruct your online/distance students to purchase it.
• You may link to a legally-obtained online version of an audio work in your LMS.
• You may provide access to up to 30 seconds (or 10%, whichever is less) of an audio work in your LMS.
• If you would like to provide access to more than 30 seconds (or 10%, whichever is less) of an audio work in your LMS, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder.

Films

• You may show a film in any format in your F2F classroom or place a DVD on reserve for your F2F students.

• You may provide a link to films included in streaming services such as Kanopy, in your LMS.

• For your online/distance classroom, you must link to a streaming alternative from a service such as Kanopy, in your LMS, or require your students to rent or purchase their own copy of the material.

• If you wish to show a film outside the classroom, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder or use a streaming version that is licensed for public performance.

Photographs or other images

• You may provide access to up to five images by a single artist in your LMS.

• You may provide access to up to 15 images (or 10%, whichever is less) of the images from a published collective work or an anthology in your LMS.

• If you wish to provide access to more than five images by a single artist from a collective work in your LMS, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder.

• If you wish to provide access to more than 15 images (or 10%, whichever is less) from multiple artists in a collective work in your LMS, you should obtain permission from the copyright holder.

• The ARTstor database contains a list of Permitted and Prohibited Uses which matches fair use guidelines and is generally friendly to classroom instruction and educational activities.