Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection granted by the US law to authors of original works, published or not. According to § 102 of the Copyright Act of 1976, these may include:

• literary works;
• musical works, including any accompanying words;
• dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
• pantomimes and choreographic works;
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
• motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
• sound recordings; and
• architectural works.

To avoid unintentional infringement when posting materials in Blackboard, use the following guidelines:

Check the library online resources first when looking for materials to post in your courses:

• Many journal articles, e-books and videos are available online through the library’s website.
• Post citations or persistent links instead of uploading and storing documents in the course.
• Consult with a librarian to help locate or purchase resources for your course.

When using materials found on the Internet:

• Use Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Access Journals, which are intentionally made available for academic use.
• Link directly to reliable Internet sources instead of downloading and uploading into Blackboard
• Check licensing before downloading and using images
• When in doubt, contact the author for terms of use

Avoid posting scanned documents and videos of unknown ownership

• Consider creating course packs (contact the bookstore for more info about XanEdu)
• Contact the author(s) or publisher for permission.

If MUST use a scanned document without permission, such as in cases of pressing deadlines

• Use the smallest excerpt possible as needed to convey the point
• Use only until copyright clearance can be obtained

As with other types of work, when compiling a document based on multiple sources

• Restate the information in your own words whenever possible
• Give proper credit to every contributor
• Use standard citation formats to model good citation practice for students

For more information, watch the following short video, visit LIT Website or contact LIT@WIT.EDU