Course Reserves Copyright Information

Copyright Terms of Use

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law.

Due to copyright law, the following restrictions apply:

Boatwright Library assumes copyright responsibility for all print and media materials submitted for reserve processing that are available through the library's e-reserve system. If faculty members choose to post scanned material themselves on Blackboard or other password-protected courseware, then faculty are responsible for the above Copyright Terms of Use.

The Fair Use Doctrine is probably the most important exemption to copyright protections for educational settings, allowing many uses of copyrighted works for the purposes of teaching and research. For example, the factor of "transformative fair use" can be applied, especially when materials are used to teach theories and methods of critical thought and analysis.

The libraries also offer the following general guidelines for posting reserve materials:

  1. No more than 2 chapters from a book
  2. One article from a journal issue
  3. Anything for which you own the copyright
  4. Anything in the public domain, including U.S. government publications
  5. The first use of an item (journal article or book chapter) falls under the Fair Use Guidelines. However each subsequent use requires royalties to be paid to the copyright holder. The library incurs these costs.

At this time, Boatwright Library obtains copyright permission for reserves posted through the library's e-reserve system through the Copyright Clearance Center. If you are posting scanned e-reserves directly into Blackboard and you need assistance with obtaining copyright permission for a work, please contact Alissa Potter (804-289-8852) in Boatwright library.

Faculty members are encouraged to use their classroom Blackboard accounts to create links to journal articles contained within Boatwright Library's electronic journals or databases. We either own or have permission to link directly to these numerous article databases. Learn how to link to articles online here.

Contacts for questions regarding course reserves copyright issues: