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Reading Lists @ Strathclyde (Staff): 8. Uploading documents, copyright and open access resources

Copyright training, guides and resources

It is important that you consider copyright when creating a reading list as you will be reusing material created by others as well as content you have written yourself.  Non-compliance with copyright can lead to loss of access to resources by all staff and students and financial/reputational damage to the University.

There is no blanket exception for 'educational use' in UK law.  There are specific exceptions that allow staff and students to copy a work (or extracts from it) without seeking the permission of the copyright owner, subject to certain conditions and limits. For example, short quotations from a work do not require permission. The University also has a range of licences in place to allow staff and students to reuse copyright protected work without having to obtain permission. A key licence is the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency)which allows the photocopying, scanning and re-use of digital content from books, journals and electronic publications.

Quick Tips to stay on the right side of copyright law:

  • Always fully reference the material you use

  • Always check terms of use on websites before extracting any material, including images or sound clips

  • Always check the licence terms of e-books, journals etc for restrictions on use and copying

  • See the Digitisation Guidelines to request a scan/digital copy extracts from a work

  • Link to materials on webpages, rather than extracting and embedding them

  • Consider free resources for use of images

  • Ensure you have permission if using previous student work

  • Keep a paper trail of any copyright permission you seek as you may be asked to prove it at a later stage

Further Guidance on copyright:

Further advice:

Uploading documents

Do not upload documents unless you are the sole author. Instead, provide links to resources that are hosted elsewhere.

Copyright is an intellectual property right which protects a creator from other people using their work without permission. 

What can I copy?

  • If you created the work you (or the University) will own the copyright - no restrictions apply.
  • You can copy or reuse someone else's work if:
  • the work is out of copyright
  • the copying is covered by a licence
  • a statutory exception applies

Open Access resources

See the LibGuide for finding Open Access resources.

Using AudioVisual Resources

See the LibGuide for AudioVisual Resources

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