Library Subject Guides
Our Practical Guide is designed to help you use the Reading Lists software, which helps provide course reading to students.
The Library offers a Digitisation Service for module leaders and tutors - staff will create a licensed digital copy for you, and link it to your reading list on Yorkshare. You may tag any reference on your reading list with a Digitisation Request, and staff will ensure it complies with CLA Licence terms:
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A CLA cover notice will be attached to the digitised extract, which will only be accessible to students registered on the module.
If your request relates to a publication which isn't stocked by the Library, staff will purchase a digital copy of the extract required, with any copyright fee paid.
If the work you want to copy is not covered by the CLA License, then the Library will contact you and offer their Permissions Clearance service
Digital copies made by the Library are fully machine readable for use with accessibility software. If specific students on your module need to have printed texts converted into an accessible format, please indicate on your reading list so that the Library can take the necessary steps.
A teacher or a student can reproduce an extract from a copyright work for the purposes of "giving or receiving instruction", with full attribution. Scenarios covered include lectures (in person or recorded), e-learning materials and classroom handouts, student assignments and exams.
'Instruction' can take place anywhere, with any audience, providing there's no direct charge to participate.
Your use must be defensible as "fair dealing":
with no impact on the rights-holder's market — if you are copying from a published work, consider asking the Library to buy the original.
Be particularly careful when incorporating other people's images in your teaching materials: even if the original figure is integrated within a text, it may be a copyright work in its own right (check the credits). It may be difficult to defend your copying as 'fair' if you reproduce a high-value image in its entirety.
See the Using Images tab for further information, including recommended sources of copyright-cleared images.
Copyright material which is published in a recorded lecture is likely to benefit from the same "fair dealing" exceptions as material used in the classroom (see above), providing the audience is restricted.
University of York lecturers should refer to the E-Learning Development Team's guidelines for the Replay lecture capture service.
If your recorded lecture may be made available to a wider audience, you should consider editing out any material which is not your own, unless it has an appropriate licence (e.g. CC-BY-NC).
UK higher education IT specialists JISC have produced a guide to Recording Lectures: Legal Considerations (2015).
University of York students viewing a recorded lecture or making a recording independently should be aware that sharing the recording with anyone other than your tutor may breach copyright on two counts:
Other people's copyright material which was included in the lecture may be licensed for classroom use only.
Furthermore, sharing a recording or photo of your lecturer without their permission could infringe their right to privacy (the same for any members of the audience who can be identified).
University of York students may find themselves subject to disciplinary procedures if they don't follow the University's guidelines for recording lectures.
Teachers and students are able to perform music or drama, play recorded music, or screen a film or TV broadcast, for an educational activity, without infringing copyright in the UK.
The Library, Archives and Learning Services Copyright Group has a position statement and guidance on using video content for educational purposes online (November 2021)
In addition to the Library's Audio-Visual Collection of CDs and DVDs, University of York staff and students have access to several online collections of film and music for use in teaching and research. The University of York holds the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licence, which covers most UK free-to-air TV channels and radio stations. Lecturers and tutors can upload their own recordings to the VLE for on-screen viewing in the UK, or take advantage of the British Universities' Film & Video Council's Box of Broadcasts for streaming, requesting and sharing recordings from ERA-licensed channels (see below).
The law does not cover inviting a non-University audience, charging for tickets, or recording the performance. To show a film or play music at a student society event, open lecture or other extra-curricular activity, you will need to apply for a licence from the appropriate agency.
Musical scores are not covered by the CLA Licence. Copyright law classes them as 'artistic works', protected by copyright until 70 years after the death of the composer. A new edition of the score acquires 'typographical' copyright protection for a further 25 years; editorial text and annotations (e.g. fingering, breathing marks) may be protected as a literary or artistic work.
The Music Publishers' Association has issued a Code of Fair Practice for copying sheet music (2016):
Bona fide students or teachers, whether they are in an educational establishment or not, may without application to the copyright owner make copies of short excerpts of musical works provided that they are for study only (not performance). Copying whole movements or whole works is expressly forbidden under this permission. Each copy must be marked with the following: ‘Copy for study only’.
Utilising other people's work (third party material) without their permission at a conference or event could potentially breach their copyright. The legal exceptions and licences which allow you to use extracts of copyrighted material in class may be difficult to justify if the event is open to the public, or if it will be streamed or recorded and made available online. You should be especially careful if it is a commercial event or if your audience has paid for tickets.
If you are preparing a presentation for a public event then you could consider asking rightsholders for permission to use their material or look for openly-licensed alternatives such as Creative Commons-licensed images. You should also consider protecting copyright in your own work and in any recordings made from the event.
If you are organising an event then you should ask your speakers to confirm that they have obtained clearance to use any third party material contained in their presentations. If the event will be recorded then you should also obtain their consent and explain how the recording will be used; the Programme Design and Learning Technology Team provide a template speaker release form (link to Word Document) which outlines these considerations. Recordings will also be subject to the University's Privacy Notice for photography and video.
The AV wiki outlines some of the considerations involved in playing music at an event.