Copyright Tips – A Useful Quick Reference Guide
Below is a quick guide of just some of the things that you CAN and CANNOT do when it comes to posting material into your Blackboard courses.
YOU CAN:
· Post links to websites that are freely accessible (available without passwords or other restrictions) on Blackboard.
· Post persistent links to articles or videos that the Library currently subscribes to (Examples include: ProQuest, Ebscohost, Films On Demand on Blackboard – this eliminates the need for permission and any fees.
· Post an image, chart, graph, etc., one time under Fair Use, on a document or in a presentation.
· Post Public Domain material – any item published in the United States before 1923 is in the public domain and can be used in any way you wish. This includes works in which the copyright has been lost, copyright has expired, and works owned or authored by the federal government.
· Use material with a Creative Commons license as long as it follows the correct license type.
· Post electronically and distribute your own works (if you own the copyright).
YOU CANNOT:
· Copy and paste text from any website into a document and post it to your course on Blackboard.
· Post the PDF of articles into Blackboard without permission – only links.
· Post an image, chart, graph, etc., repeatedly on a document, as this is a violation of Fair Use.
· Digitize a film (from VHS or DVD to digital format) to use in an online course, unless permission has of course been granted.
· Post a book cover image into your course because sometimes the artwork on the cover needs separate permission from the artist. Also, the publishers like to know who is using the book image and when it is getting used.
· Share a link to a personal electronic subscription of a newspaper or magazine with others since it is a paid subscription for personal use, unless it is otherwise stated in the policy. However, if there is an email or share option, you may be able to email a specific article or share it on a social networking site.
We hope these copyright tips will be useful to you. In addition, please visit Bellevue University’s Copyright Center: http://libguides.bellevue.edu/copyright for more helpful information. Also, if you would like to obtain copyright permission for a specific item, please submit the Copyright Permission Request Form: https://bellevue.libwizard.com/id/eb2c623625903a5885411bfeae9d8eb5 , and we will contact the publisher for you. Feel free to contact us by email: copyright@bellevue.edu or phone: 402-557-7299, should you have other copyright questions. We look forward to hearing from you! As always, thank you for supporting the Copyright Center!
Linking to the Library's Resources
As you are developing your courses in Blackboard and trying to incorporate resources from the Library’s databases, you may not be aware of the best way to do this. Unfortunately, you cannot just create a PDF of the article and post it into Blackboard or copy and paste the article into a Word document to post into the course – those methods would violate copyright. In fact, if you refer to one of our past copyright features titled “Copyright Tips: A Useful Quick Reference Guide,” it will assist you with the “Do’s” and “Do Not’s” of posting material into your courses: https://libguides.bellevue.edu/c.php?g=1127103&p=8223170#s-lg-box-26082256.
However, what you can do is review the Library’s LibGuide, “Linking to Articles, eBooks, and Streaming Videos from the Library’s Databases” (http://libguides.bellevue.edu/linking), which will definitely help you link to the Library’s database resources without any hesitation. This LibGuide provides information and instructions on how to directly link to databases, rather than violating copyright by copying and pasting. The following databases have specific instructions on direct linking: ProQuest, EBSCOhost, LexisNexis, Films on Demand, Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Factiva, Facts on File, Image Quest, Opposing Viewpoints, Vast Streaming Video, and Gale Virtual Reference Library. Although other databases can be linked, not all have this capability. Therefore, if you have any questions about a database not listed on this LibGuide, please contact Joel Hartung, Assistant Director, Library Systems at jhartung@bellevue.edu .
By knowing how to provide the durable link (also known as a persistent link), you will be able to add a wealth of resources to courses on Blackboard, share articles, videos, or eBooks with colleagues and students, and be able to access them quickly from your own computer, without infringing copyright!