AUAS Library
Lecturer as (re)user of other people's work
Copyright Information
When (re)using copyright-protected material in education, as a teacher you have to deal with copyright laws and regulations. This applies, for example, to copying magazine articles, book chapters or images in a reader, presentation, Brightspace or Teams.
On this page:
Using someone else's work
By using someone else's work, we mean: incorporating copyrighted work into a new work to which then the processor has copyright. If you want to use copyrighted work, you need permission from the copyright holder. There are two exceptions to this.
- One is that you may make a copy of the work (both physical and digital) for your own use without the permission of the creator. This copy may not be stored in a place where others can access it.
- You may, even without permission, quote or paraphrase someone else's work in teaching materials. You must always mention the source. The quotation or paraphrase must support the content of the course material and the extent must be proportionate to the purpose. These conditions apply both to texts and to PowerPoint, video or other teaching materials such as web lectures.
Re-use of other people's work
Re-use includes the unaltered sharing and distribution of the work of others. Within non-commercial education, the educational exception applies. This allows the reuse of (parts of) a work, for example by making it available to students within a secure electronic (learning) environment such as Brightspace. The following conditions apply:
- The work must have been lawfully disclosed.
- The work may not be modified.
- The work serves to explain education.
- A fee must be paid for acquisition.
The teaching exception does not apply to all activities organised by the HvA outside the educational programme and which non-students may also attend, and permission must be arranged in advance.
Always Allowed
- Linking to materials in the Library's CataloguePlus .
- Linking to Open Access publications (with or without a Creative Commons licence).
- Linking to any other place where a publication can legally be accessed.
- Uploading non-commercial educational material created by yourself or at the AUAS.
- Referring to materials and having students look up the physical publication themselves. (The Library may make publications temporarily unavailable for loan. This gives all students an opportunity to make a copy for their personal use).
- Uploading publications that are in the public domain (e.g. legislation or works whose author died more than 70 years ago).
- Linking to or embedding audiovisual material. You may show audiovisual material only for educational purposes in the classroom. Whether uploading audiovisual material in a digital learning environment is allowed depends on the licence.
Copyright for different types of content and materials
The HvA participates in the national Easy Access buyout scheme. This allows you as a lecturer to (re)use copyright-protected material as notes on non-commercial education. The following conditions apply:
Texts
- A maximum of 50 pages from one publication;
- provided no more than 25% of the original publication.
Example
Does a publication have 100 pages? Then you may copy a maximum of 25 pages from it. Also, from a publication that is accessible online, a maximum of 25% of the whole may be uploaded into a digital learning environment. (Linking is always permitted).
NB: A (scientific) article that is part of a magazine issue usually has less than 50 pages and remains under the 25% of the issue.
Example 2
Entire reports on the internet are freely accessible, but you are not allowed to upload them in Brightspace. Again, the 25% condition applies, even if the organisations publishing such reports are not affiliated to the UvO Foundation.
Solution: This can be circumvented by linking to the publication online. Linking is a form of referencing and is always allowed under copyright law.
Document no longer available online
If an online document is no longer available, check whether the publication mentions a copyright statement. If rights are reserved, ask permission from the organisation that published it before uploading it to the digital learning environment. Does the copyright statement or colophon indicate that distribution is permitted or that it has been published open access? Then you can upload the work and make it available to students.
Not permitted; now what?
What if you want to make more than 50 pages from a publication, or more than 25% of a work available in Brightspace?
- Ask the Library if a digital edition can be purchased to allow linking.
- Contact the copyright holder (author or publisher) to ask for permission. A reasonable fee is usual.
- Ask the Library for assistance in arranging permission through the UvO Foundation . This incurs additional costs for faculty.
Also see:
For information on creating educational materials, visit Auteursrechten.nl .
The HvA participates in the national Easy Access buyout scheme. This allows you as a lecturer to (re)use copyright-protected material as notes on non-commercial education. The following conditions apply:
Images
- A maximum of 50 images in a presentation or document;
- of which no more than 25 images from the same publication
- and a maximum of 10 works by the same creator.
Not allowed; now what?
- Ask the Library if a digital edition can be purchased to allow linking.
- Contact the copyright holder (author or publisher) to ask for permission. A reasonable fee is usual.
- Ask the Library for assistance in arranging permission through the UvO Foundation. This incurs additional costs for faculty.
Copyright-free images
On our webpage How to find...? under Images, you can read more about finding royalty-free images.
Showing in class
Audiovisual material may be shown in class to explain the teaching. There is an arrangement whereby, under certain conditions, no permission needs to be requested for showing films for non-educational purposes at our locations. As long as a film is not announced, i.e. is not central to the activity, it may be played in a classroom, hall, canteen, hall during activities that are also attended by non-students. For film evenings, lectures with a film at the centre, etc., a licence must be obtained via filmservice.nl
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If a film is in the Library's collection, it can be used. If there is no access, it can be arranged through Filmservice. Ask the Library to purchase a copy if a film will be used more often. It is not allowed to show content on Netflix or other platforms to which an employee has a subscription.
Sharing in the digital learning environment
It is always allowed to post links to audiovisual material in Brightspace. Do keep an eye on whether that material is legally posted (e.g. YouTube) and whether it is accessible even if someone does not have login details (Netflix, etc.).
You do not need permission to play the work of others in class. However, the material used must be relevant to your teaching and it must serve to supplement your teaching and not replace it.
You may post parts of audiovisual material of others on a digital learning environment (Brightspace). The conditions are:
- It must serve to support teaching, so not just for decoration.
- The size of the citation must be related to its purpose; in practice, for audio(visual) works this means short fragments.
- The work quoted is lawfully published.
- A source must be mentioned.
- You may not alter the quoted fragment.
If you want to publish a complete audiovisual work on the digital learning environment, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder and pay a fee.
Linking to publications in AUAS databases
Linking to articles in AUAS databases is preferable to downloading them and placing them on MijnHvA. Which link you should use varies per database.
Licensing conditions
Uploading publications from databases depends on the licence conditions of the relevant database. Check whether you see a 'Show licence' button in CataloguePlus. This will show whether use in an (electronic) reader (e.g. Brightspace) is prohibited or permitted. If you cannot find it, please contact us. Ask the Library .
How to cite sources for AI-generated content can be read on our Acknowledging sources page.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are digital learning materials that are freely available online for use or reuse. Copying, adapting and distributing the material is permitted under certain conditions. Find out what you can do with them and where to find them on our Open Teaching Materials page.
The HvA web lectures are available via the website Web lectures AUAS . You are free to use these web lectures in your teaching.
Need support or advice?
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Ask the Library . The Library supports students, researchers and teachers with copyright issues.
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Also read more general information about copyright on the Library website.