Copyright Information

Copyright and Your Courses

If you have been concerned about copyright issues in your classes, you are not alone.  Below are some links that are helpful in learning the ins and outs of copyright compliance within academia.  This page is divided into two sections.  The first includes links that help explain copyright as it pertains to your classes.  The second has links that give you some options for obtaining permissions to use material that is under copyright.  If you have further questions, please contact Deirdre McDonald, Associate Library Director for Research Services, mcdonaldd@utpa.edu, 956-318-5376. 

Part 1:  Information on Copyright Issues in Higher Education

Know Your Copyrights:
The first thing we recommend is that you print out a copy of this brochure, designed by the Association of Research Libraries.  This covers all the basic questions about use in both in-person and on-line classes, and has a handy one-page poster for your wall called "What You Can Do". 

Digital Copyright Slider:
Remember the old slide rules?  This is the a digital slide rule for copyright questions.  It's simple to use and will answer your basic copying and distribution questions for published print materials quickly.

Copyright Crash Course: 
Written by Georgia Harper, Scholarly Communications Advisor for the University of Texas at Austin libraries, this is one of the best places to start learning about copyright.  Of special interest to faculty members is the tutorial page.

Stanford University Libraries' Copyright and Fair Use Pages:
This is a comprehensive site that includes up-to-date information on copyright news, as well as an excellent copyright overview. 

University of Maryland University College Copyright Pages: 
If you have time to just read one quick overview, consider this site.  There is a great section on what can and can't be copied and when permissions should be obtained.  Also, try their Copyright Primer.

The University of Minnesota Libraries' Copyright Decision Map:
These folks have produced an easy-to-follow flow chart for making course content decisions based on copyright and licensing issues. 

Part 2:  Obtaining Permissions

Once you've decided that you will need to obtain copyright permission, you have a number of options.  If you are interested in using articles, the first thing we recommend is that you check to see if the article is already licensed by the UTPA Library.  Although our individual licensing agreements vary, it is almost always acceptable to link to our resources, including directly to an article, through your Blackboard coursepages.  We have created a guide on how to do this, and if you have further questions, please contact Deirdre McDonald.  We highly recommend linking to the article as opposed to uploading it, since many of our licenses do not allow uploading.  

Coursepacks/ UTPA Bookstore:  Professional coursepack companies, inlcuding those affiliated with the University Bookstore, offer copyright clearance services as part of the coursepack production process. The cost of copyright clearance for the articles is included in the coursepack fees. These services can be a convenient way to provide students with articles and chapter reprints. 

Copyright Clearance Center:  The Copyright Clearance Center is a centralized service that allows individuals and institutions to obtain copyright permissions.  You can read more about the services here.  Using the Copyright Clearance Center is a good alternative for departments wanting to reproduce articles or book chapters for trainings, for faculty members who are not able to utilize the coursepack service, and for other academic needs outside the traditional classroom setting.