Copyright Support

Governed by the Copyright Act of Canada, copyright gives the creator of an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work the exclusive rights to reproduce, perform, translate, publish, distribute and sell the work. Copyright applies automatically when a work is in a tangible format (registration is not necessary). The library helps faculty, staff, and students navigate copyright issues in teaching, learning and research.

Our staff provide expertise in:

  • Understanding how to stay copyright compliant in the classroom and in SLATE.
  • Evaluating copyright situations and finding solutions to support your teaching, learning or research needs.
  • Finding open access and Creative Commons licensed resources.
  • Protecting faculty rights as authors and creators.
  • Providing copyright education for students, including workshops at the request of a faculty.

In addition, we organize events and raise awareness across the college.

For students, copyright affects many resources you use and tasks you complete as a student, in your personal life, and at work. For example, downloading an article from a library database, using images in your assignment, sharing photos on social media, and creating a YouTube video that has music are all important actions that are governed by copyright. Many students, as well, are creators and own copyright to their own works, especially in the online environment. You want to respect someone else's copyright as you would expect others to do for your work.

For faculty, copyright considerations are important when sharing copies of book chapters and articles, adapting content to use in learning materials, showing videos in the classroom, and more. In addition, as authors and creators, you might wonder how you can protect the copyright to your own works.

The best place to start is with the library's copyright guides:

Contact Us

To inquire about fair dealing, or to ensure you comply with licensing and copyright law, please contact:

copyright@sheridancollege.ca