Best Practices for Acquiring Digital Content for Image Collection Managers
Copyright restrictions vary depending on how digital content is acquired. Commercial content comes with terms of use specified by a license agreement. As long as it does not violate the terms of a specific contract, content can be shared within the CU system. Every reasonable effort should be made to acquire digital content by purchase or subscription. When it is not possible to purchase or license content at a fair price or within a reasonable amount of time, fair use guidelines can be applied to materials currently under copyright protection.
The University of Colorado’s interpretation of fair use will allow all campuses in the system to create and share fair use digital content for educational purposes, provided that the content is stored in a digital asset management system that is restricted to users in the CU system.
Best Practices for Acquiring Digital Content
- Digital content must be purchased or subscribed to if it is reasonably available. License agreements will dictate the use of these materials.
- If unavailable through commercial means, the fair use provision of copyright law may be applied:
Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act allows for use of copyrighted materials under limited circumstances such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research. The “Fair Use” exception considers:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
- Access to digital content acquired under the fair use guidelines must be limited to the University of Colorado academic community.
|