Copyright Resources

Posting Materials on Web Sites/Electronic Reserves

Many faculty today are interested in posting full-text materials on their personal home pages and pages developed for specific courses. If the materials are copyrighted, certain guidelines must be followed to be in copyright compliance. The guidelines outlined below are taken from the Fair Use Guidelines for Electronic Reserve Systems and are in use with electronic reserve systems at other universities. Webster U. and Eden Seminary faculty and staff should also see the information on Passports Persistent URLs for alternatives to posting full-text articles.

The following can be posted on a web page without permission if (a) access is limited to the students in the course by password or some other method, and (b) a copyright notice is posted at the beginning of the screen. (See the suggested wording for copyright notice.)

• One article from a journal issue
• One chapter from a book
• Government publications (although not generally covered by copyright, it may work better to post links to these since they're usually lengthy)
• Materials such as exams, lecture notes, etc.

Specifically to Webster U., our interpretation is that faculty may post the items listed above on their WorldClass Room sites, since they are controlled by password.

The following examples would require copyright permission prior to posting on a web page:

• When an article from a journal is needed by a professor for more than one quarter.
• When multiple articles from one journal issue are needed for electronic reserve. (See also next section on use of Passports Persistent URLs.)
• When one chapter of a book is needed by a professor for more than one quarter.
• When multiple chapters of a book are needed for electronic reserve.
• When an out of print book is needed for electronic reserve.

Suggested Wording for Copyright Notice
WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making photocopies or other reproduction 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 electronic transmission of reserve material is used for purposes in excess of what constitutes "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Linking to Full-text Articles in Online Databases (Persistent URLs)

One way of providing access to full-text articles from a journal is to use "persistent URLs" provided by some of our database vendors. Persistent URLs are unique and unchanging links to individual articles available full-text. Webster and Eden faculty can post direct links to full-text articles on their WebCT courses, on E-Reserves or Blackboard sites, or on their own WWW sites. Through persistent URLs, the copyright issue is handled by the vendor.

See our Using Persistent URLS Through Passports page for information on incorporating this feature into your courses.