As we look ahead to another academic year, UBC is taking this opportunity to re-engage with you on the issue of copyright.
Copyright law is not static. Over the coming two years, we are anticipating several developments in copyright law that will require continued vigilance on the part of faculty, staff and the university administration.
To promote best practices as the legal landscape develops, we have added an alerting system to Connect. The system will be implemented by individual Faculty through the rest of 2016.
Currently, instructors are prompted to input metadata indicating the copyright status of an uploaded file. This system is intended to assist faculty in keeping track of the copyright status of their uploads, to ensure an accurate record of permissions is maintained over time, and as courses evolve.
The new system will alert faculty members if any uploaded files are missing copyright metadata. This system also provides an opportunity for faculty members to review the material and remove any unnecessary content. To save time and effort, consider using the Library Online Course Reserves (LOCR) system, where trained staff will take care of scanning, uploading and clearing copyright on your behalf, including paying any required transactional license fees.
As you know, UBC has also created various tools to assist faculty to learn about, to use and to distribute copyrighted materials in compliance with copyright law. Further resources, as well as updates about changes in copyright law, can be found at http://copyright.ubc.ca.
If you have any questions about copyright please email copyright.services@ubc.ca and consider attending a workshop: http://copyright.ubc.ca/support/workshops/.
UBC remains committed to providing our academic community with the resources it needs to easily and legally access learning and research material. Thank you again for your efforts and support since we embarked on this course in 2011.
Angela Redish
Provost and Vice-President Academic pro tem (Vancouver)
Cynthia Mathieson
Provost and Vice-Principal Academic (Okanagan)