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4 Ways to Share Course Material with Students

When sourcing course material, faculty and instructors should consider the following four options, in the order listed.  

The Library's Syllabus Service is an additional resource faculty and instructors can use to organize course material.  Click through for details!

It is the responsibility of faculty/instructors to ensure adherence to the Copyright Act and UWinnipeg's Copyright Policy for all courses hosted by the University of Winnipeg.  Questions about how to meet those obligations can be directed to the Copyright Office -- we are happy to help!

PDF poster of this info

Is the copyright-protected material available from the Library?

The Library spends over $1million on digital content each year.  You can share this material directly with your students without restrictions in one of two ways:

  1. Share library links to online content such as eBooks or journal articles.  Sharing a library link has the added benefit of allowing the Library to see which materials are being used -- which can help influence future purchases.
  2. Place a print book/journal on Reserve for your students to borrow for a shortened loan period.
Is the material publicly available?

You can share Public Domain, Open Access, or other freely available online material with your students by sharing the link or URL for the material. 

You should not download and share copies of non-Public Domain material, as the copyright-holder may decide to no longer share the material freely, as is their right.  

Can the material be used in compliance with Fair Dealing?

You have the right to share a limited amount of copyright-protected material for educational purposes.  The University has developed Fair Dealing Guidelines for you to refer to and to guide you in your use.  You may also wish to review our Two Tests for Determining Fair Dealing

In general, sharing one chapter from a book or one article from a journal issue is permitted; alternatively, you may share up to 10% of the total work.  

All copies shared under Fair Dealing must include full bibliographic information.

If you are uncertain about interpreting Fair Dealing Guidelines and sharing material, email the Copyright Office!  We are happy to help!

Should a transactional license be obtained?

A transactional license may be obtained for copyright-protected material that falls outside of the above qualifications; for example, a transactional license may be obtained for use of a book excerpt that is not available through the library and whose size exceeds what is allowable under Fair Dealing Guidelines.  This license grants permission to use a specified amount of the material in a specified way for a specified length of time.  

The Copyright Office can assist in securing transactional licenses: copyrightoffice@uwinnipeg.ca 

Use the Syllabus Service!

Faculty and instructors are welcome to submit a list of required course material to syllabus-service@uwinnipeg.ca.  Library staff will review the material for copyright-compliance, and source and upload everything to Nexus/Ares for you.  

More info on the Library's Syllabus Service can be found here!