Copyright

As an instructor, there are a variety of ways you can use copyrighted material for teaching without having to ask permission - the trick is discovering which exceptions to copyright are most applicable to your situation. The Framework for Copyright Analysis is a great way to help sort out your options when deciding how you can use the resources you want in your classes. However, these are the exceptions that are most applicable for instructors.

Exceptions for Instructors 

All Teaching Environments:

Public Domain (links to University of Minnesota Libraries) - A work is in the public domain if its copyright term has expired, or if it has never been covered by copyright (such as works authored by the U.S. Government). Works in the public domain may be used for any reason by anyone since copyright does not apply.

Creative Commons - There are a wealth of resources that are distributed under Creative Commons licenses, which already grant permission for a variety of uses. Most are applicable for educational purposes. Openverse has a collection of websites where you can find Creative Commons-licensed works. 

Fair Use - the Fair Use exception needs to be determined for each particular use. However, the ASU Library Course Resources Copyright Policy provides some guidance for common scenarios for classroom use. While these are specifically for course reserve, they would be equally applicable to other course materials.

In Person Classes Only:

Classroom Use Exemption (included in Section 110(1) of Copyright Law) - this only applies to in-person, face to face instruction in a classroom at a non-profit educational institution, and allows for the performance or display of any copyrighted work without seeking permission. Playing a DVD or CD for a class (in whole or in part), singing a song together, or holding up purchased or borrowed copies of a book or artwork would be permitted under this exemption. It does not apply to making or distributing copies or to online instruction.

Online/Distance Education Only:

TEACH Act (included in Section 110(2)) - The "Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization" Act allows instructors to perform or display copyrighted works in distance education environments. However, there are a number of restrictions - NOTE: The TEACH Act does not apply to Learning Enterprise endeavors - see Copyright and Open Scale Courses for more information.

FAQs

Can I upload an article or book PDF from the library to my course?

It's better to provide the link to the article or ebook rather than uploading the PDF directly to your course site. This provides a better experience to your students since our content providers often provide a variety of accessible options and formats. Linking directly to the resource you need also helps the ASU Library know how that resource is being used, which is one of the ways we make decisions about our collection. Using the ASU Library Resource Organizer is the best way to share and organize content in your course.

Can I upload library content to tools like Perusall?

Unfortunately, our vendor contracts prevent uploading articles from library databases for use with Perusall. However, you can use openly licensed materials, or evaluate whether your use is fair with content that is not provided in library databases.

Can I share a link to content online or embed a video from another source in my course?

Sharing a link to freely available online content, or using the embed codes provided by a platform (such as YouTube or Twitter) is usually fine. As an instructor, you should avoid linking to anything that is obviously infringing - a movie that's currently showing in theaters on YouTube, for example - so that you can avoid giving the impression that copyright infringement is acceptable.