Home Academic Programs Services & Resources
About Us
Admissions & Financial Aid
Clinical Practice & Partnerships News & Events
Research

Faculty Instructional Technology Resources

Copyright Issues

The following resources are a good guide to what is permissible and what is not when it comes to posting items on CTools.

In general:

  • Copyright is tricky; there are few hard-and-fast guidelines. This document is only a rough guide.
  • It is best to use eReserves to post articles in CTools instead of scanning articles and uploading them. It is generally not legal to scan and post - or even photocopy - articles, book chapters, etc. to distribute to your class unless you have paid appropriate licensing fees (as the library does, and as students do when buying coursepacks).
  • If the library does not have a copy of the item you want, you must evaluate each item you want to use for "Fair Use."
Information on how School of Nursing faculty should go about using Taubman Library's eReserves service to put articles into CTools.
From the University of Minnesota, and excellent visual guide for deciding if you may use an item in your course.
From Indiana University, a quick overview of the legalities of posting materials online.
Most often, you will have to determine if your use of an item constitutes "Fair Use." Use this checklist from U. Minn. to help you decide if your use is "fair."
The full description of Fair Use. From Indiana University.
Also from U. Minn. The TEACH act is a federal law covering those parts of distance education courses that simulate face-to-face classes. NOTE: It does NOT cover items like textbooks and readings, that students can keep after the end of the course.
U. Minn. document describing common teaching scenarios, with an analysis of their legality.
General info and U-Michigan specific policies
University of Michigan Home