Copyright and Printed Course Packs
You may wish to distribute material to your students as course packs either in print, or now electronically using Blackboard.
The University’s Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) licence allows you to photocopy some copyright protected material for use in course packs for registered University of Leicester students, including distance learners. Inclusion of material not covered by licences must be with the permission of the rights holder.
What materials can I photocopy for use within a course pack?
The CLA licence allows multiple photocopies of limited extracts from copyright protected printed books, journals and magazines. The copies must be made from an original of a book, journal or magazine owned by the University and can only be made by university staff in the UK.
- Up to 5% or one chapter of a book
- Up to 5% or one article from a single issue of a journal
- Up to 5% or one paper of one set of conference proceedings
- Up to 5% of an anthology or one short story or one poem of not more than 10 pages
- up to 5% or one case of one report of judicial proceedings
Copyright & Course Packs briefing paper May 2011
The CLA licence covers photocopying of material from most, but not all, UK publications, and a number of US and international publishers. Details of UK and US publishers excluded from the licence can be found on the CLA website.
Newspaper articles from the UK nationals and a limited number of UK regional newspapers can be copied for teaching up to a maximum of 50 copies. For further information please see Copyright and University Licences.
If the Library provides an electronic version of a chapter or article you can certainly link to the electronic version, and some publishers, but not all, allow multiple photocopies of downloaded articles to be included in course packs. Please check by contacting us.
The creation of course packs in printed or scanned form is not intended to be a substitution for course textbooks or other licensed material.
In response to concerns from publishers, the CLA have issued the following Good Practice Guide which we recommend you read before submitting your requests to the Service. It is important to ensure that any requests you make do not negate the requirement for the use/purchase of a key texts.
How can I request permission to photocopy a work not covered by the CLA or another licence?
The Library's Copyright and Course Pack Service can either:
- Obtain a copyright fee paid copy of a chapter or article
- Obtain permission directly from the publisher
There will be a cost to the Department, which varies depending on the publisher.
If you would like the Copyright Administrator to check a course pack list, and obtain a quote/permission from a copyright owner on your behalf, please complete and return the Document Request Form.
Alternatively Departments can obtain this permission directly themselves (there are usually contact details or permission request forms on the publishers website). You must keep evidence of written permissions.
It can take time to obtain responses from copyright owners - often several weeks - take this into account when submitting requests.
Can electronic resources provided by the library be used within a course pack?
Electronic journals, books and full-text materials are provided by the Library under licence from the publisher. Many permit inclusion of such materials in printed course packs, but not always posting on a VLE. Please See the Nesli licence information in Copyright and University Licences.
Do not assume that because materials are available on line they can automatically be incorporated into an on-line course pack.
Links from a VLE to the document are usually fine.
Further Information
If you have any queries relating to the Course Pack Service, please contact the Copyright Administrator.
