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University Library Services

Copyright for Library resources

A guide to assist staff and students with the lawful use of copyrighted library resources at the University of Sunderland Libraries

Copyright for Academics

As an educator, it is often necessary to use copyrighted materials for the purpose of teaching and learning.  For example, a lecturer may wish to add a scanned chapter of a book to a reading list, photocopy extracts from a book or journal to use for class handouts, show a copyrighted images or even an entire film recording to a class for the purpose of learning and study.

In order to do this legally, the University of Sunderland purchases a number of educational copying licences. The key licence details that are relevant to academic staff have been outlined below.

Key Points for Academic Staff

  • The CLA Licence permits any member of staff to make copies – however, you must not scan and upload copies of  books, chapters or journals to Canvas or Library Reading Lists.  If you want to add content to your reading lists please see the Library Digitization Guide.
  • You can make copies for registered students and members of staff, in connection with a specific course or module.
  • You should make copies only from publications owned or subscribed to by the University of Sunderland Library 
  • You can copy up to one chapter from a book, or one article from a magazine or journal – or 10% of the total publication, whichever is the greater. 
  • For digital publications, where possible the same limits (i.e. one chapter/article or 10%) apply; where this is not possible (e.g. some websites, where it is difficult to identify what might constitute 10%), you should use your best judgment to copy reasonable extracts only.
  • When photocopying, as many copies may be made as necessary to enable each student on a course, plus the tutor, to have access to a copy. The same applies to printouts from digital publications.
  • If you need to check whether a publication is covered by the Licence, have a look at the Check Permissions tool, which is quick and easy to use.
  • All digital copies are subject to cyclical reporting to the CLA via Library Services which is why digitization for reading lists must only be done by the Library team.

The ERA Licence permits the recording of UK radio and TV programmes for use within the University for teaching and other non-commercial educational purposes. The Licence authorises the following two non-commercial educational activities:

  • Recording from broadcasts made in the UK of the works and performances owned or represented by ERA members( an up to date list of members can be found at http://www.era.org.uk/members_links.html); and

  • Electronic communication of licensed recordings within an educational establishment (NB: this does not include on-line communication).

The Licence covers scheduled free to air broadcasts on:

  • BBC television and radio

  • ITV Network services (including ITV2 and ITV3)

  • Channel Four, E4, More 4 and Film 4

  • Five Television

  • S4C

  • and any other licensed broadcast services

Please note, this does not include other satellite and cable channels.

The NLA Licence held by the University covers:

  • all national UK newspapers
  • the following regional titles:
    Evening Chronicle
    Sunderland Echo
    The Journal
    The Northern Echo

This allows the University to make copies of articles, reports or other items published in the above newspapers only for distribution to its staff for internal use or to its students for educational and instructional purposes provided that the title of the newspaper and its date of publication should be clearly noted together with a statement declaring that it was copied under the terms of the NLA Licence.

Copying from other regional titles, periodicals or foreign newspapers is not covered by the University NLA Licence and will require separate consent.

The NLA Licence does not permit:

  • the systematic copying of more than 250 copies of any one cutting taken from any one issue of an NLA newspaper, whether for internal use or for inclusion in course/study packs
  • copying and circulation of cuttings beyond University premises
  • copying of articles where the author has retained copyright, e.g. freelance journalists (Permission would need to be sought from the author.)
  • further copying by the recipient for any person who is not a student or member of staff.

Please note: 
The University does not subscribe to the NLA's Digital Licence therefore digital copying is not permitted.

For further information please visit the NLA's website or see the CLA website for a comparison of the CLA and NLA Licences

Exceptions to Copyright

The educational licences are underpinned by copyright exceptions, which mean that where a particular work is not covered by a licence, an educational establishment is still able to copy it.  This is to ease the burden on teachers and enable them to use extracts for the purpose of teaching and learning.

The law has provided a number of exceptions to copyright to enable educators to do this legally.  Selected sections of materials can be shared using the exception of 'fair dealing'.  It is worth noting that exceptions only apply if no other legal agreement exists (such as the CLA, ERA, CC licences). 

Please refer to the IPO Guide to Exceptions for Teaching for more information.