Copyright and teaching
There is a great need to copy and use material produced by others for teaching purposes. Various different agreements and licences therefore regulate the usage of material in education. Some licences allow the copyright holder to specify how the material may be used.
Using electronic course material
Most e-books and e-journals available at the university are covered by licencing agreements between the library and different distributors. The conditions for use are determined by the publisher or distributor and may differ from case to case.
As a teacher you are generally allowed to:
- Upload articles to Its Learning
- Link to e-books and articles from e-journals
Please note that you have to include https://login.bibproxy.kau.se:8443/login?url=
before the web address so that the material can be reached from outside the university campus - Print out and use the material for educational or research purposes
But you are not allowed to...
- Download and distribute copyrighted journal articles, or to publish them on websites, mailing lists, etc.
- Use articles for commercial purposes, to republish, distribute or alter the contents
- Copy or download entire journals systematically
Open Access – free use
A large number of Open Access (OA) journals are available. These may be used freely, as long as sources are acknowledged and the content is not distorted or plagiarised. OA journals may be searched using the library’s databases or Google Scholar.
The Bonus Agreement – using printed course material
The so-called Bonus Agreement between the university and Bonus Copyright Access facilitates the copying of shorter texts for teaching purposes. When material (e.g. e-books or e-journals) is protected by other licencing agreements, those take precedence.
The agreement allows teachers and students to copy shorter pieces from published Swedish and foreign works, including books, teaching materials, journals, digital publications, etc. You are, however, not allowed to copy moving images and recorded works such as TV programmes, YouTube clips, films, audio files, etc.
Copying and using material according to the 15/15 rule
The Bonus Agreement allows you to copy and share material – even digitally – according to the so-called 15/15 rule. This means that you may copy, scan, download or distribute 15 pages, but not more than 15% of the total number of pages.
You may also upload these pages to Its Learning, or share them with students, researchers or teachers, but you may not distribute them outside Karlstad University.
If you need to copy a large number of pages, or if you want to copy from required course literature, you usually need the permission of the publisher and copyright holder.
Obtaining permission from copyright holders
To use material not covered by the existing licences and agreements, you need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder. It is often easy to obtain permission.
- Start by contacting the publishers. They would know whether you need to contact other copyright holders.
- Obtain permission in writing and save the document. Using copyrighted material without permission may be costly.
Images
Copyright also applies to photographs, tables, maps, works of art, illustrations, etc. that are printed or published electronically. You need the permission of the copyright holders to use copyrighted images in your own published texts. This also applies to students. If you lecture at Karlstad University, you may use copyrighted images in a PowerPoint presentation if you indicate the name of the copyright holder and source of the image.