Copyright for lecturers

The University has a licence with the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA). This licence allows us to copy extracts from a wide range of books and journals for students enrolled on specific courses. This can be up to whichever is the greater of:

• 1 chapter from a book
• 1 article from a journal issue
• 1 paper from a set of conference proceedings
• 1 short story or poem of up to 10 pages from an anthology
• 1 case from a report of judicial proceedings
• 10% of a whole publication.

You can check whether a publication is covered under the CLA licence by using the CLA check permissions tool.

If the publication is covered, you can request a scan for students on your course via the Reading List Service. The scan will be made available to your students via your online reading list in MyAberdeen or equivalent VLE. The Library will create a high-quality scan that meets accessibility requirements, add the necessary copyright notice, and take care of all the checking and record keeping. Scans can only be used on the specific courses they have been requested for.

If the publication is not covered by the CLA licence, you may be permitted to copy up to 5% of the work using the ‘copying of extracts by educational establishments’ exception. This exception may only be used for works which are not covered by the CLA licence.

Most web resources are not covered by copying licences such as the CLA licence. Consider whether simply linking to the resource is suitable for your purposes.

If you need to copy and this is not covered by the exception outlined in the short extracts (all works) section above, check the web resource itself for any licensing information or terms of use. If it has a reuse licence, such as a Creative Commons licence, this should be clearly indicated on the resource. If you can’t see a licence, check the page header or the footer at the bottom of the webpage. This is where terms of use and copyright information are typically located.

If you cannot find any reuse information, assume that the author has reserved all their rights under copyright. In this case, you might need to consider requesting permission from the author.

The ‘illustration for instruction’ copyright exception is usually only considered applicable to shorter extracts. However, in some instances it could be argued that reproducing an image in its entirety is ‘fair’ if this is necessary for the teaching point you need to make. You can increase the likelihood that your use is ‘fair’ by using a lower-resolution version or a limited section of the image, if possible.

Remember, you can also request scans of images from books or journal articles under the CLA licence for use in the VLE.

You may wish to use images that are not directly illustrating a teaching point, such as for purely decorative purposes in a presentation. For uses like this, consider using images that are either in the public domain or licensed under a Creative Commons or similar open licence. See our external resources page for more advice on where to find this kind of material.

The NLA Education Establishment Licence permits users in the University to copy from both printed and online NLA media access publications for use in the classroom or for private study.

The licence includes all UK national newspapers and allows you to copy a cutting, such as an article, report or photo, to give to students. Up to 250 print copies are permitted and some titles also permit using a digital cutting on a VLE.

Copyright works can be shown or performed in a classroom setting for the purpose of instruction under the Section 34 copyright exception.

The audience must be solely university students and staff. If done in an online classroom, this should be via a secure platform which is only accessible to registered students, such as MyAberdeen or equivalent VLE. The performance should be from a legally obtained copy of the material.

The University has an ERA licence to cover the recording of TV broadcasts and films for teaching purposes. Box of Broadcasts (BoB) National is a platform which you can use to legally record current broadcasts under the ERA licence. It also gives access to a huge archive of programmes and films. Staff and students can rewatch material hosted on the platform, and you can use it to create shorter clips to embed within your teaching.

If you are using material under the ERA licence, make sure it is only shown or accessible to University of Aberdeen staff and students.

You can find more detailed guidance on using films in your teaching in the Code of Fair Practice for the use of Audiovisual Works in Film Education produced by Learning On Screen.

Both sound recordings and printed music can be protected by copyright.

Sound recordings

Copyright works can be played or performed in a classroom setting under the Section 34 copyright exception. The music must be for the purpose of instruction. Other uses, such as playing music to entertain students before a lecture, would not normally be covered by the exception.

The audience must be solely university students and staff. If done in an online classroom, this should be via a secure platform which is only accessible to registered students, such as MyAberdeen. The performance should be from a legally obtained copy of the material.

The section 34 exception does not cover making additional copies or converting material into another format, such as recording a lecture where a whole work is played. However, it may be possible to justify playing an entire work or movement under the ‘illustration for instruction’ exception if this is necessary to illustrate your teaching point, such as playing an entire song to demonstrate its use of a particular musical form.

Printed music

Musical scores receive copyright protection which lasts for 70 years after the death of the composer. However, the layout of printed music also has copyright protection which lasts for 25 years, so a recent edition of a score may still be in copyright even if the composer died more than 70 years ago.

You can copy excerpts of printed music under the section 32 ‘illustration for instruction’ exception. However, be aware that you should copy no more than the minimum needed for your purpose. Copying an entire work or movement from a work may be hard to justify under the exception.

You can copy material for use in lectures, seminars, or written exam questions but not for students to perform from.

Licencing schemes

Copying music is not covered by our CLA or ERA licences. If your intended use falls outside the statutory copyright exceptions, you may be able to obtain permission through an alternative licensing scheme. Some organisations that give further information are:

• Music Publisher’s Association
• British Universities Film and Video Council
• PRS (Performing Rights Society) for Music – authorises the broadcasting musical works, including via cable and digital media
• PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) – deals with sound recording rights on behalf of record labels.

The University has a subscription to Digimap which provides UK mapping data for higher education. Please refer to the licensing agreement to see what use is permitted with the different Digimap modules.

For other online maps, please refer to the specific terms of use for that mapping service.