FAQs: Using copyright content for online teaching and learning (in Blackboard/ MUSO)

If you wish to put journal articles online you need to send a request to the Readings and Reserve services team in the Library. They will either digitise a copy of the article from a hard-copy volume and make it available online via the Library catalogue (under the Part VB 'CAL' Licence) or (depending on the terms of the relevant database licence) they will create a link to an e-journal version. Readings and Reserve will supply you with the links in each case so that you can place these into your unit MUSO site.

No. If you wish to use any electronic journal articles online you need to send a request to the Readings and Reserve team in the Library. They will check the relevant licence terms for that journal and if the licence permits they will create a link to the article, supplying you with the link so you can place this into your MUSO site.

No - not if the book is still available for purchase and not if the readings are for the same unit. This would amount to incrementally putting online more than a reasonable portion of the book. The 10% limit has to be applied per unit offering: students must not be given online access to more than 10% or one chapter of a given book during their enrolment in a unit of study. If a Monash staff member provides more than 10% or one chapter of a book to the same group of students (same unit), the staff member will be in breach of the Part VB 'CAL' licence conditions - i.e. copyright will be infringed. If you need to make more than 10% or 1 chapter available try seeking permission from the publisher.

No. The 10% or one chapter limit applies for an entire unit of study and should be calculated irrespective of the format in which copies are made. We cannot provide students with more than 10% or one chapter of a work that is still available for purchase, during their enrolment in a particular unit of study.

Yes - but you should be asking the Readings and Reserve services team in the Library to do this for you. They will verify that the book or publication is out of print or otherwise unavailable within a reasonable period of time and at an ordinary retail price, and digitise the amount required accordingly. This 'commercial availability' test does not include books that are for sale as second-hand items. Evidence of the book being out of print/unavailable should be retained in case of an audit.

No: articles acquired by staff through the document delivery service are bound by very strict terms under which the document was acquired (Section 49, Copyright Act). These terms prevent the document from being used for purposes other than the research and study activities of the requestor. However, the Readings and Reserve and Digitisation teams can usually obtain the same article for the library collection and this can be put online for your students. Send enquiries to Readings and Reserve services.

The Part VB 'CAL' licence requires that only one 'reasonable portion' be available online across the whole University at any given time. A reasonable portion of a book is one whole chapter or any amount up to 10% of the total pages of the book (ie an amount that is under 10% is still a single 'reasonable portion'). So if the University is only allowed one such 'reasonable portion' online at any given time, and two staff need separate excerpts from the same work online at the same time, and if these 2 excerpts together are still within 10% of the total book, the University has to combine these files as a single communication (file) online.

The individual licence agreements between the University Library and the database providers set the limits on how online journals can be used by staff. Each journal or provider may have their own terms and conditions of use. The publishers and database providers monitor the use of these materials and subscriptions very closely and will deny access for the whole university if there are breaches of the licence conditions.
Although the University Library negotiates for consistent and flexible terms (ie negotiating to allow staff to include journal articles in print coursepacks for example) the database providers may sometimes refuse these allowances. Staff should contact the Library's licensing section for details about the terms governing a specific e-journal or database (include title of article, journal and the database from which it was sourced.)

• Database licence inquiries can be sent through ask.monash

The terms of individual e-journal or database provider contracts over-ride the statutory allowances within the Australian Copyright Act. You can’t use provisions of the Copyright Act relating to the CAL licence when using computer software or journal databases that have been purchased or accessed under a licence/contractual agreement. Your use of those materials must comply with the terms of the relevant licence agreement.
Material that is sourced from a publication which is not governed by a contractual agreement (eg a hardcopy newspaper or journal), may be used under the terms and conditions of the Part VB 'CAL' Licence or in accordance with other exceptions in the Copyright Act.