CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES
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extent that they are the most appropriate, relevant, and still timely materials for
the course.
PRINCIPLE:
It is fair use to make appropriately tailored course-related content available to
enrolled students via digital networks.
LIMITATIONS:
• Closer scrutiny should be applied to uses of content created and marketed
primarily for use in courses such as the one at issue (e.g., a textbook, workbook,
or anthology designed for the course). Use of more than a brief excerpt from
such works on digital networks is unlikely to be transformative and therefore
unlikely to be a fair use.
• The availability of materials should be coextensive with the duration of the
course or other time-limited use (e.g., a research project) for which they have
been made available at an instructor’s direction.
• Only eligible students and other qualified persons (e.g., professors’ graduate
assistants) should have access to materials.
• Materials should be made available only when, and only to the extent that, there
is a clear articulable nexus between the instructor’s pedagogical purpose and the
kind and amount of content involved.
• Libraries should provide instructors with useful information about the nature
and the scope of fair use, in order to help them make informed requests.
• When appropriate, the number of students with simultaneous access to online
materials may be limited.
• Students should also be given information about their rights and responsibilities
regarding their own use of course materials.
• Full attribution, in a form satisfactory to scholars in the field, should be
provided for each work included or excerpted.
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extent that they are the most appropriate, relevant, and still timely materials for
the course.
PRINCIPLE:
It is fair use to make appropriately tailored course-related content available to
enrolled students via digital networks.
LIMITATIONS:
• Closer scrutiny should be applied to uses of content created and marketed
primarily for use in courses such as the one at issue (e.g., a textbook, workbook,
or anthology designed for the course). Use of more than a brief excerpt from
such works on digital networks is unlikely to be transformative and therefore
unlikely to be a fair use.
• The availability of materials should be coextensive with the duration of the
course or other time-limited use (e.g., a research project) for which they have
been made available at an instructor’s direction.
• Only eligible students and other qualified persons (e.g., professors’ graduate
assistants) should have access to materials.
• Materials should be made available only when, and only to the extent that, there
is a clear articulable nexus between the instructor’s pedagogical purpose and the
kind and amount of content involved.
• Libraries should provide instructors with useful information about the nature
and the scope of fair use, in order to help them make informed requests.
• When appropriate, the number of students with simultaneous access to online
materials may be limited.
• Students should also be given information about their rights and responsibilities
regarding their own use of course materials.
• Full attribution, in a form satisfactory to scholars in the field, should be
provided for each work included or excerpted.
