So your program uses a textbook...

Textbook misuse is the #1 copyright issue affecting colleges like ours. Just because you own a book, doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it. The physical item is yours, but you do not have the right to distribute the content within the book.

Your Rights

The Copyright Act of Canada affords students a selection of rights when it comes to reusing copyrighted material.

The full college policy is available to read here.

The part of the law that's allowing you certain use of copyrighted material is called Fair Dealing.

The Money Problem

Money is the #1 barrier for all students accessing quality education and succeeding in your studies. There are options.

  • Rent your text from the campus bookstore
  • Rent an eText online
  • Ask your teacher to investigate creating a course pack
    • You only pay the cost of printing
  • Ask your teacher to switch to an Open Education Resource
    • These are always free materials (or the cost of printing)

So you want to photocopy...

Each book publisher has their own sets of Terms and Conditions that govern use of their published material. In most cases, Fair Dealing guidelines will cover you but only if you are the owner of the book.

Fair Dealing guidelines apply for books in the library, but not for certain accompanying material. Accompanying material are items that come with our print texts, that only come with the purchase of a print text. Photocopying these accompanying material without owning the book does not make the publisher any money, which they really don't like.

You can ask permission from these publishers to photocopy their material using the forms below.

chat loading...