Course Reserves Copyright Information

UR Libraries assumes copyright responsibility for all materials submitted for reserve processing. Faculty should know the following before submitting items for processing:

  • The first use of an item (journal article) falls under the Fair Use Guidelines, therefore the library does not have to pay copyright fees.  However each subsequent use requires royalties to be paid to the copyright holder.
  • No more than 25% of a complete work may be reproduced.  Therefore entire books cannot be placed on electronic reserve.

The Fair Use guidelines for copyright law are broad in scope and can be difficult to interpret. For this reason, the Library has come up with the following recommendations:

  1. No more than 25% from a book
  2. One article from a journal issue
  3. Government publications
  4. Anything for which you own the copyright
  5. Anything in the public domain

At this time UR Libraries obtains all copyright permission through the Copyright Clearance Center. If the copyright holder denies permission, the Library will notify you, refuse your request and/or remove the material from access through ereserves.

Contacts for questions regarding course reserves copyright issues: