Welcome back, students and faculty. While there’s been a lot of talk about copyright rules changing with Parliament having passed Bill C-11 (an act to amend the Copyright Act, which is not yet enacted), we wanted to let you know that as of right now, nothing’s changed from last year at Dalhousie.

That means when you’re making copies, please continue to rely on the copyright compliance best practices that have already been established. When making or distributing hard or digital copies, please do so only to the extent permitted under an existing Dal Libraries or University license (other than Access Copyright), under the Dalhousie University Fair Dealing Guidelines, or with the permission of the publisher.  Following these best practices helps to ensure that the University is in a well-established position to operate without a blanket license.

Dalhousie is currently working on a framework to guide us in developing ethical and sustainable copying practices. The development of this framework, well underway, in combination with a movement towards Open Access, will enable Dal to eventually operate without the additional expense of a blanket copyright license.

We anticipate some dramatic changes in the copyright landscape once Bill C-11 is enacted.  We also anticipate a revision of the current Dalhousie Fair Dealing Guidelines soon that will include a more expansive interpretation of the Copyright Act due to a number of recent decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada.  More robust copying practices for educational purposes will be possible at that time — we will update you when this happens. In the meantime, if you have questions about copyright, visit the Dalhousie Libraries’ Copyright Office page, or contact Intellectual Property Assistant Jason MacDonald.