Assigning Licensed Library Resources as Course Materials

Instructors are strongly encouraged, after having selected the materials they would like to distribute to their students as readings for a course, to explore whether some or all of those materials are available as licensed resources through the University Library.

Many of us well remember a time when course materials distributed to students largely consisted of scanned pdfs or printed photocopies of journal articles or book excerpts. These excerpts from print resources from the Library collections were reproduced and distributed to students either in printed course packages or as pdfs posted on an LMS. From a copyright perspective, these were generally made available under fair dealing, unless the excerpt was sufficiently extensive to require a specific “transactional” licence to reproduce and distribute it to students. Much has changed since those days.

Ten years ago, the University of Alberta Library adopted an “e-preferred” approach to its collection. This means that where electronic versions of journals and books are available to the Library under reasonable terms, then licensing access to those versions has been preferred over acquiring print copies. From a copyright perspective, it is the terms of these licences that determine the type of access that can be provided to students, rather than a reliance on fair dealing, when these materials are made available as course materials. In general, this licensing permits the sharing of more resources with students without any concern about copyright, provided those resources are made available within terms of the applicable licence. 

There are a few ways in which instructors can include licensed Library resources as course materials for a class. This is most easily done through the Library’s Reading List service, but instructors can also simply add resources to the LMS for their course via a persistent link. And, of course, some licences allow for the resources to be printed and distributed in course packages. More on printed course packages later.

Many ebook licences will permit authorized users to download a chapter of the book (in some case, even the whole book) as a pdf.  Since all students registered in the class would be authorized users, wouldn’t it be more efficient for the instructor to download the chapter and to post the pdf on the LMS making it available to all the students in the class? Even if the licence does not explicitly permit posting the pdf to the LMS, what is the harm if all recipients were authorized to download the chapter themselves?

The main harm would likely relate to the collection of data about the use of the specific resource.  If an instructor downloads the chapter and distributes the pdf to 200 students per term over five terms, then 1000 copies of the chapter have been made available. Even though each of those 1000 students was an authorized user with a right to download a pdf copy of the chapter, the statistics of the licensor of the ebook, and the statistics of the University Library as the licensee of the ebook, would have recorded only one download, rather than 1000. Usage data can impact what resources a licensor will include in their packages, and what resources the University Library will see as worth licensing, so it is important to respect the importance of the usage data for these licensed resources by permitting each user to download the materials independently.

What about the inclusion of licensed library resources within print course packages? Course materials that are distributed via printed course packages generally require a copyright review. Where the licence that governs the distribution of the specific resources permits, those licensed resources can be included within the printed course package. Otherwise, sharing a persistent link with students remains an option.

Regarding the use of printed course packages at the U of A, the Copyright Office is conducting a short survey. If you have used a printed course package to distribute course materials within the last few years, you will likely have received an email with a link to this survey. If you received this link, we would appreciate your completing the short survey by October 31. If you have not received that link and you have used printed course packages to distribute your course materials in recent years, and if you are interested in participating in this survey, please contact copyright@ualberta.ca.