Technology, Copyright and Fair Use
It is the responsibility of the instructor to determine appropriate use of all instructional materials, whether paper-based, electronic, or online. If at any time you have questions, please contact the Office of Legal Affairs.
The following page has been created to aid instructors in determining if use of their materials represent appropriate usage for instruction. Whether you are planning on using your materials in GeorgiaVIEW, Google Apps, or simply utilizing our services, the "Getting Started" guide below will guide you through the process.
To begin, explore the "Getting Started" portion to determine if your materials meet with standards for presenting in your class.
Getting Started
- University System of Georgia Copyright Policy - Provides explanation and resources on the use of copyrighted works in education and research. This should be your starting point to discovering about using your materials.
- Fair Use Checklist - Use to determine if your materials can be used under the Fair Use policy.
- Guide to the TEACH Act - If materials meet Fair Use guidelines, but are electronic (non-paper-based), they must also conform to the TEACH Act. This site includes interpretation of the Act as well as FAQs.
- Code of Best Practicies in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries
Once you have deteremined that your materials meet the obligations of appropriate use, you may use them for instruction in your course(s). If you lack the technological means to do so, examine "Our Services" for help.
Our Services
- Digitizing / converting / streaming AV - We provide services to convert old, unusable, or incompatible formats to online versions that can be viewed and protected to meet the guidelines of the TEACH Act.
- Scanning paper-based documents - We provide services to scan paper-based documents into PDF or other distributable formats.
If you have read the above information regarding copyright and are ready to utilize our services, you can initiate a request with this form.
Additional Resources
- View the "Copyright, Technology and Fair Use" presentation as given by the Office of Legal Affairs.
- Copyright Basics - Wondering why you should worry about copyright at all? Watch this video for more information about what it means for a work to be copyrighted and why copyright is important.
- For resources that can be used in media projects or for alternative means of providing media to students, please see our resources page.