Skip to Main Content

Copyright

This LibGuide provides basic information about U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17) and discusses exemptions to exclusive rights.

Library-Licensed Materials

The LLCC Library subscribes to a variety of electronic resources including full-text article databases, electronic journals, reference databases, eBooks, and streaming video collections.  The use of these resources is governed by license agreements, which allow authorized users (current LLCC students, staff, faculty members, and walk-in researchers) to use the copyright-protected materials for non-profit, educational purposes without the need to seek permission.  When you use library-licensed resources in your courses you do not need to worry about infringing on the intellectual property rights of others!      

Most LLCC Library license agreements allow the following:

  1. Use: Authorized users may make all use of the Licensed Materials as is consistent with the Fair Use Provision of the United States and international copyright laws. The Licensed Materials may be used for the purposes of research, education or other noncommercial use. This includes:
    • making print or digital copies of a reasonable portion of the Licensed Materials;
    • displaying Licensed Materials electronically; transmitting to a third party in hard copy or electronic form, minimal, insubstantial amounts of the Licensed Materials for personal use or scholarly, educational, or scientific research but in no case for resale or commercial use.
  2. Classroom use: Classroom use should also be permitted. This may include the creation of multiple copies in print or electronic form for classroom instruction to the extent permitted by the classroom use provision of the copyright law.
  3. Course packs: Licensee may use a reasonable portion (in hard copy or digital form) of the Licensed Materials in the preparation of Course Packs or other educational materials for sale and/or distribution to Authorized Users for their use in connection with classroom instruction.
  4. Course Reserves: Licensee may use a reasonable portion (in hard copy or digital form) of the Licensed Materials in the preparation of course reserves for access by Authorized Users in connection with specific courses offered by Licensee

Library Licensed Materials & QM 4

When QM refers to “Permissions,” they are asking the instructor to identify the legal mechanism that allows them to use the content lawfully.  For Quality Matters purposes, the “Permissions” for any library-licensed resource would be “library license” or something to that effect.  The legal mechanism that allows authorized users (current faculty, staff, students, walk-in users) to access and use these resources is the license between the vendor and LLCC Library or the vendor and our library consortiums (if the consortium brokers the subscription and licensing on our behalf).  All users must follow the stipulations set forth in each of these licenses; if you have questions about whether or not your intended use is allowed, please contact Amanda Wiesenhofer.  In general, the LLCC Library licenses allow authorized users to used licensed content for research, education, and other non-commercial use and take advantage of Fair Use as is consistent with US Copyright law.  Typically, there are also provisions built into the licenses that allow some form of classroom use, course reserves, and at times, course packs.  You can always share content from EBSCOhost databases and other databases with your students using permalinks.  If you prefer to download articles and then upload the content to Blackboard, you should remove content at the end of the semester.  If you want to use the same content in subsequent semesters, verify that the library still has legal access to the content; if so, it would be fine to use the material again.  Unfortunately, content within subscription full-text databases is not static.  So if the resources came from a full-text database, it is possible that subscribers lose access to certain content based on the licensing agreements with the copyright owner and database vendor.  

Integrating Online Resources (OER & Library-Licensed Materials) into Your Courses & Presentations