ECA is committed to ensuring that staff understand and use appropriate practices so that all uses of copyright material comply with the Australian Copyright Act 1968. The following guidelines provide a brief overview of how to use copyright material for educational purposes under the Act. For more detailed information, contact the ECA Library.
Copyright enables creators to manage how their content is used so their original expression of ideas is protected. The use of copyrighted material, such as text and images, by teachers and students can require permission and payment but there are also exceptions to these requirements.
ECA is covered by the Statutory Education Licence which means that if you wish to rely on this licence to reproduce materials:
• they must be for educational purposes (this includes copying and sharing content in connection with a course of instruction, and copying content for the library’s collection);
• they must be restricted to staff and students of ECA
• they should be cited appropriately, with full attribution provided;
• copyright warning notices must be displayed.
The Statutory Education Licence allows the use of text and images from any source or format regardless of whether it is digital or hardcopy, Australian or foreign content or published or unpublished content. Teachers can make hard copies of material for their students, upload the material to a secured shared drive or learning management system such as Canvas, or email the material to students directly.
If the teacher’s use does not fall under the Statutory Education Licence, they may still use a certain material for educational purposes if:
• the copyright is owned by the teacher;
• ECA owns the copyright;
• the copyright has expired;
• the teacher is using an insubstantial portion of the work;
• the teacher has permission from the copyright owner for their intended use;
• the teacher or the college has an express licence to use the work, e.g., a contract, Creative CommonsLinks to an external site. licence or website terms and conditions;
• the teacher is reproducing material in an accessible format to assist a student with a disability;
• the teacher’s proposed use is a special case as defined under §200AB Links to an external site.
The Library Help Centre is here to help!
We offer in-person and online appointments, remote assistance via email, chat or Zoom.
The library staff can also assist with with using library databases, how-to search for scholarly materials, copyright and fair use and referencing.