This guide was designed solely for informational purposes for Georgian College students, faculty & staff.
All other users are encouraged to check and confirm the information with their institution.
This site is prepared by library staff and is not reviewed by legal counsel.
The library recommends the following Best Practices to support your curriculum development, teaching and learning while remaining copyright compliant:
These recommendations follow the priorities set out in Georgian's Copyright Policy and the Canadian Copyright Act.
A copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work may be provided to each student enrolled in a class or course as a class handout (printed) or posted to a learning management system that requires a login/password.
It is a violation of copyright to share, post, or copy the content elsewhere for students without permission from the copyright holder.
These materials can be handed out, used in class, posted/shared only IF they are:
*Note: Under Canadian copyright law, all materials acquired via an Interlibrary loan system must not be:
Please contact the Copyright Team to find alternative materials within Georgian’s collection for posting or sharing with your class or for additional options to obtain the specific material needed.
A short excerpt in Copyright generally means one of the following, whichever is greater:
You must cite your source clearly to remain copyright compliant when using short excerpts.
From a copyright perspective, the term video includes movies, documentaries, feature films, cartoons and TV shows. Copyright restrictions on video use in the classroom, and online, and for recreational/social purposes differ depending on the origin/source of the video.
Creating recordings of your lectures or lessons?
Please review the Copyright considerations for Lecture Recordings in Blackboard.
Note: Videos content that is not posted by the copyright owner may violate copyright and should be avoided.
For specific questions, please contact the Copyright Team and ask us!
From a copyright perspective, artistic works include images, paintings, drawings, maps, charts, plans, photographs, engravings, etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, prints, illustrations, sketches, sculptures, casts, models, patterns, maps, atlases, paintings, architectural drawings, plans, digital images, mosaics, art prints and compilations of artistic works, amongst others. Images are protected by copyright as soon as they are fixed (ie. as soon as a camera shutter clicks, the final paint is applied to canvas, a digital image is saved). Creators of artistic works are not required to register an image for copyright in order to own the copyright.
Creating recordings of your lectures or lessons?
Please review the Copyright considerations for Lecture Recordings in Blackboard.
An entire artistic work (i.e. a painting, photograph, drawing, map, chart, plan) found inside a copyright protected work (such as a book, journal, or magazine), may be used under the Fair Dealing exception applies if the following conditions are met:
Note: some types of works may not be copied under Fair Dealing, please see When Fair Dealing does not apply or contact the Library for help with this.
All images found online are copyrighted even if there is no specific copyright mark or watermark visible, unless they are in the Public Domain*.
If an image does not have an open license, is not in the public domain, and is not eligible to be used under Fair Dealing, you may not use the image without written permission from the copyright owner. Please contact the library for help to acquire written permission or to locate an alternative image.
*It can be difficult to determine when photographs enter the public domain. Please contact the library for help with this.
Fair Dealing
An entire artistic work (i.e. a painting, photograph, drawing, map, chart, plan) found on a copyright protected website, may be used under the Fair Dealing exception if the following conditions are met:
Note: some types of works may not be copied under Fair Dealing, please see When Fair Dealing does not apply or contact the Copyright Team for help with this. Some websites may have specific collections or other permissions - please consult with the library to clarify in these cases.
Images or artistic works that are clearly marked as Public Domain, shared under Creative Commons licenses and some web-based image collections such as Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels may be used for both decorative and educational purposes. Openly licensed images provide a great way to enhance course materials and may be included in lessons, slides, screen casts or lecture recordings provided that you meet the following conditions:
For help locating openly licensed images, verifying license restrictions and more, please contact the library or review tips on our OER Guide
The Library subscribes to databases that contain images that may be useful to you in your teaching activities. To use images from database in a Copyright Compliant way:
From a copyright perspective, music and sound includes sound recordings, podcasts, live music, songs, spoken performances, and narrations of stories and books. As with streaming videos, personal subscriptions to streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music cannot be legally used in the classroom.
Creating recordings of your lectures or lessons?
Please review the Copyright considerations for Lecture Recordings in Blackboard.
When using music and sound recordings for educational purposes, you must not:
Creating instructional videos like screencasts or pre-recorded lessons? Best practices include:
The recording of lectures is governed by the Copyright Act and policy at Georgian:
Additional considerations are needed to ensure Copyright compliance if your lecture/recording includes copyrighted materials such as:
As long as your live lecture uses material that is copyright compliant, that same content will be compliant in the recorded lecture you stream and post in Blackboard. This includes using materials under Fair Dealing and citing/referencing materials. However, there are specific conditions to this provision.
Section 30.03 of the Copyright Act requires that
The captured lecture must be destroyed within 30 days of the final course evaluations being giving to students in the class.
Note: It is the recording of the lecture, not the PowerPoint or materials used in the lecture that must be destroyed.
For specific questions, please contact the Copyright Team and ask us!
