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Canvas

Faculty may use our digital learning environment (Canvas) to share online materials.

Some basic guidelines:

  • Faculty are responsible for conducting a fair use analysis of each work to determine if it can be used without seeking permission.
  • All materials must support course-related teaching, scholarship, or research.
  • The course syllabi must contain a statement notifying students of using copyrighted materials.
  • Whenever possible, provide a link to an article, web site or other material that is available on the Web rather than copying it onto your web page.
  • No more than "reasonable and limited portions" (approximately 10%) of a work may be digitized for use in an online course. The online course must have access controls to limit the material to the students in the course.
  • Always acknowledge the author of any work that you use. Include the copyright statement from the work.
  • Repeatedly putting the same article in Canvas, semester after semester, is not recommended by our legal counsel--generally this goes against the 4th fair use factor--effect on the market.
  • Do not use Canvas as a substitute for coursepacks. This would also have a deleterious effect on the market. The University Bookstore can assist you with preparing coursepacks.
  • Many copyrighted works can be accessed through the library's database licenses. Be sure to check to see if you can link to a work in a library database before you seek permission or pay a permission fee. Our reference librarians can assist you.
  • Items obtained from another library may not be used in an online course.
  • Digitized materials should be removed from the online course at the end of the semester.

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