Copyright Guidelines for Students, Staff, and Faculty

General Principles

The College follows Fair Dealing guidelines as outlined in the Canadian Copyright Act. Each member of the College is expected to follow the policies and standards outlined by the Act.

First time offenses will be responded to with an educational approach; repeated offenses be regarded as a serious matter and may result in dismissal from the AC community.

The Librarians offer copyright advice and class workshops to each member of the community to ensure compliance with the Act.

The aspect of copyright most pertinent to the AC community involves restrictions on the right to reproduce material (Copyright Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42, 3).

For example, if an instructor purchased a textbook, then scanned it and printed it for their students to access without purchasing the text themselves, this would be violating the above.

However, reproducing material under the concept of “fair dealing” may be acceptable. In defining fair dealing, the Supreme Corse of Canada has considered the following factors:

• The character of the proposed copying – does it include single or multiple copies, and is the copy destroyed after its intended use?
• The amount of the dealing, including the proportion of the proposed copy and the importance of the excerpt copied in relation to the entire work
• Alternatives to copying the work, and whether a non-copyrighted equivalent is available
• The nature of the work itself – is it published or unpublished?
• The effect that copying the work will have – will the excerpt compete in the commercial market with the original work?

Not sure how to navigate these tests? The Librarians will analyze your circumstance and provide advice accordingly. Not sure about the concept of fair dealing in general? Contact your librarians today.

Additional Guidelines for Faculty and Staff

Under Fair Dealing, instructors are allowed to copy or distribute a short excerpt of a work for the purposes of research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review, or news reporting.

A short excerpt is defined as:

• up to 10% of a copyright-protected work (including a literary work, musical score, sound recording, and an audiovisual work)
• one chapter from a book
• a single article from a periodical
• an entire artistic work (including a painting, print, photograph, diagram, drawing, map, chart, and plan) from a copyright-protected work containing other artistic works
• an entire newspaper article or page
• an entire single poem or musical score from a copyright-protected work containing other poems or musical scores
• an entire entry from an encyclopedia, annotated bibliography, dictionary or similar reference work provided that in each case, no more of the work is copied than is required to achieve the allowable purpose.

Additional Guidelines for Students

For students, copyright is an important consideration when writing papers, making presentations, and accessing course readings.

Students own copyright over the materials they produce during their studies, such as presentations. Similarly, instructors retain copyright over the materials in their classes, such as handouts and lesson plans.

AC Students can learn how to properly cite resources by visiting the Writing and Learning Centre.

Any questions? Contact the Librarians today.

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