Dealing with Copyright in Education

Free – What is always permitted?

There  in which you can include Audio and Video Material on Canvas to include Articles inInformation inImages in Text from Books in Canvas to copy ArticlesText from Books in which you can copy Images to include ArticlesTexts from Booksin which you can include Images in a Reader without infringing copyright or incurring additional costs. free of charge.

Link to the Source:
You can always refer to an article in a digital journal by using a link. Find out how to do this in Canvas here.You may always link to audio clips and videos that are online. This way, you are only referring or linking to the source; you are not republishing anything. This also includes embedding YouTube videos. In addition, the Dutch public broadcaster (NPO) has a lot of audio and video material on Academia.nl that you can refer/link to. There is also a lot of material available on Eyefilme.nl..You may always link to material that has been published online without running into any problems or incurring additional costs. Since the source is already available on the internet, this is often the easiest option. Find out how to do this in Canvas here.Some publishers make (parts of) their books available online so that everyone can read them. Sometimes, parts of a book are also available to preview on Google Books. Since you are not republishing but only referring to (parts of) a book, there are no costs involved.
Embedding Images:
Instead of downloading an online image and then uploading it to Canvas, you can also embed it. You can do this by looking up the link of an image and posting it in Canvas. If it is possible to embed it, the entire image will appear in Canvas.
This is not the same as republishing the image on Canvas; instead, it is like you are framing the image. You are still referring to the image in its original location (so it is free of charge), but for the user it looks like the image is in Canvas.
• Open Access:
  Articles published under a  Creative Common (CC) License can always be copied and disseminatedreused free of charge, provided you adhere to the terms of the specific license. You can find these kinds of open-access articles on the Narcis and KNAW websites as well as in the Directory of Open Access Journals. You can also use Unpaywall a useful plug-in for Chrome and Firefox. You can use this to see whether an article has already been published as an open-access article somewhere.
• Creative Commons:
  In addition to linking, you may also reuse audio and video mMaterial shared under a  Creative Commons (CC) - license free of charge, provided you adhere to the terms of that specific license. Under Open education resources (OER), you will find a list of locations where you can find this type of audio and video material.
• Open Content:
  Images under a  Creative Commons (CC) - license can always be reused and uploaded to Canvas free of charge, provided you adhere to the terms of that specific license (at least mention the source).
• Open Textbooks:
  More and more open textbooks are becoming available online. These textbooks can be downloaded free of charge and you can reuse the material contained therein without any problems, provided you adhere to the specific licence.
  Good sources for open textbooks libguides.vu.nl/resource-centre-education/oer-textbooks
• Quotations:
  You may always quote a short passage, as long as it is not longer than necessary. Make sure, however, that you also add a link to the original source.

There are a lot of images online that are shared openly. Europeana has a large database of open-access historical art and photos. You can also use the  Creative Commons (CC) website to search for open-access images on Pixabay and Flickr (integrated in Canvas).

Paid extracts

Each year, the VU pays an advance amount for materials used and for which no prior permission has been requested. This amount is based on the size and number of extracts used in the previous year. For this reason, you should, as far as possible, use the free options described above or, failing that, make sure the extract is as short as possible (a short extract costs less than a medium-length extract). As such, the VU will have more money left over to fund other education-related activities. More information about this can be found on Background information about copyright page.

Short extracts

• Max. 8.000 words: A short extract from a journal is classified as no more than 8,000 words from the same publication.
• Number of words used per course are added together: The number of words used for the entire course are added together. For example, if you use 5,000 words from the same journal for the same course twice, this is no longer classified as a short extract.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a short extract.

• Max. 25 images: You can use up to 25 images from the same copyright-protected work in your course (this is the limit for a short extract).
• Number of images used per course are added together: The number of images used for the entire course are added together. For example, if you use 15 images from the same source for the same course twice, this is no longer classified as a short extract.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a short extract.

• Max. 10,000 words: A short extract from a book may not exceed 10,000 words from the same book. This must not be more than one third of the total book (based on the number of pages).
• Number of words used per course are added together: The number of words used for the entire course are added together. For example, if you use 6,000 words from the same book for the same course twice, this is no longer classified as a short extract.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a short extract.

Medium-length extracts

• 50 pages: A medium-length extract is classified as no more than 50 pages from the same journal, provided this does not exceed 25% of the journal. An image counts as half a page. A medium-length extract costs the VU more than a short extract.
• Number of pages used per course are added together As is the case for short extracts, the number of pages used for the entire course are added together.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a medium-length extract

• Max. 100 images: A medium-length extract is classified as no more than 50 pages, provided this does not exceed 25% of the total work. An image counts as half a page. So if you only use images from a source and nothing else, you can use up to 100 images and this will still be classified as a medium-length extract.
• Both text and images count: However, if you are also using text from the same source, you need to add the number of pages and the number of images together to see if you are still within the limit for a medium-length extract.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a medium-length extract.

• 50 pages: A medium-length extract is classified as no more than 50 pages from the same book, provided this does not exceed 25% of that book. An image counts as half a page. A medium-length extract costs the VU more than a short extract.
• Number of pages used per course are added together: As is the case for short extracts, the number of pages used for the entire course are added together.
• No permission required: No prior permission is required for a medium-length extract.

Long extracts (50+ pages100+ images)

For extracts longer than 50 pageswith more than 100 images, you must obtain the explicit prior permission of the copyright holder, for which a fee is often charged.

It is worth noting here that students rarely (thoroughly) read texts of this length in digital format. If you want to use a long extract from a source, the University Library can also find out whether the source is available to purchase (digitally), so that students can have access to it. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you need advice or support regarding long extracts.