Skip to main content

Copyright & Reserves

Copyright Disclaimer

The information presented here is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Legal questions should be directed to the University of Oklahoma Office of Legal Counsel.

Guidelines for Copyright Compliance in Reserve Collections

The University of Oklahoma Libraries maintains a course reserve collection to support the instructional requirements of some courses. Materials in this collection include materials from library and personal collections, including varied formats, as well as reproductions and photocopies. The collection may be held in the main library or in any of the branch libraries or may be scanned by the library and added to Canvas by the owner of the Canvas course.

Fair Use

In accordance with the fair use provisions of Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, an amendment to Title 17 of the United States Code, and in a manner consistent with the CONTU (National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works) guidelines, the University of Oklahoma Libraries may include copyrighted materials in the course reserve collection or scan materials at the request of the instructor.

It is the sole responsibility of the instructor to determine if fair use is applicable. The University of Oklahoma Libraries does not provide copyright analysis of materials an instructor wishes to place in course reserves.  For assistance in making this determination, you may visit the OU Provost office's site on Copyright, TEACH Act and DMCA. The Provost office also has a guide to Course Materials.

Overview of What Materials Can be Placed on Canvas

The University Libraries will scan materials for use on Canvas if:

  • The University Libraries has a current license for access to digital versions of the copyrighted material. In that case, the citation and the persistent/stable URL for the electronic version of the material can be added to Canvas to provide direct access to the requested material.
  • Copyrighted material for Canvas that has been acquired legally or will be purchased by the Libraries or instructor.
  • Copyrighted material for which permission has been received from the copyright holder to place the material on Canvas.
  • Works done by a student or another faculty or staff member which are accompanied by a signed permission form.  

Scope of Material that Can Be Included on Canvas

Canvas access may include:

  • materials for which digital versions are licensed to the University of Oklahoma
  • short items (such as an article from a journal, a chapter from a book or conference proceedings, or a poem from a collected work) or excerpts from longer items
  • articles, chapters, poems, and other works that are of such length as to constitute a substantial portion of a book, journal, or other work of which they may be a part
  • articles, chapters, poems, and other works of a customary length and structure as to be a small part of a book, journal, or other work, even if that work may be marketed individually.

Electronic reserve systems should not include any material unless the instructor, the library, or another unit of the educational institution possesses a lawfully obtained copy.

The total amount of material included in electronic reserve systems for a specific course as a matter of fair use should be a small proportion of the total assigned reading for a particular course.

Notices & Attributions

On a preliminary or introductory screen, electronic reserve systems should display a notice, consistent with the notice described in Section 108(f)(1) of the Copyright Act. The notice should include additional language cautioning against further electronic distribution of the digital work.

If a notice of copyright appears on the copy of a work that is included in an electronic reserve system, a copyright statement shall appear at some place where users will likely see it in connection with access to the particular work.

Materials included in electronic reserve systems should include appropriate citations or attributions to their sources.
Any section copied from any book or journal must be accompanied by A PHOTOCOPY OF THE COPYRIGHT STATEMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL (with © symbol) AND A COMPLETE CITATION.

FOR BOOKS: Title, Edition, Volume, Place of Publication, Publisher, Date, ISBN, and the pages to be copied. (These can be found using the First Search website located on the Library homepage.) 

FOR JOURNALS: Title, Volume, Issue #, Month/Day, ISBN, and the number of pages copied. 

Access & Use of Reserves Materials

You can add access electronic items to your Canvas course.