Copyright and Fair Use: Canvas

Resources and assistance are available for Rice instructors preparing campus courses in Canvas.

Fondren Library both respects the rights of creators of copyrighted works and encourages the campus to exercise the rights accorded to users under the Fair Use provision of U.S. copyright law. To support this, the following guidelines have been developed for making materials available through Canvas and electronic reserves (e-reserves). Adapted from University of Maryland Libraries' Copyright Guidelines.

When preparing your course in Canvas, follow these steps as you develop your reading list (including video and other multimedia):

1. Conduct a fair use analysis for each item you want to include. See the fair use section of this guide for recommendations. Fondren Reserves staff and Scholarly Communications Liason are available to assist.
2. Fondren recommends that you add course texts using the Reading Lists tool in Canvas. You can build your course reading lists in Canvas using Fondren’s OneSearch tool with direct links to library full text holdings. This tool also facilitates copyright clearance by library staff, if needed, and requests for material not in Fondren collections. Learn more about Canvas Reading Lists in this tutorial or email reserves@rice.edu.
3. Additional considerations:
   1. When possible, link to an e-resource rather than post a PDF, video, etc.
   2. If using library e-books, verify the number of people that can use them. Some e-books permit multiple users access at the same time; others allow only one at a time.
   3. If you post a PDF, include a copyright notice and attribution. Include a copy of the resource's title and copyright pages and copyright notice.