This is part three in our series to celebrate Fair Dealing Week. Part four (Students and Fair Dealing) will appear on Friday.

Fair dealing is a powerful tool for using copyrighted works in the classroom. It allows instructors to use photos and videos in class lectures, reduce the cost of materials for students, and facilitate access and accommodation for students. Faculty can also benefit from Fair Dealing in the context of research, allowing academics to build upon existing research, and facilitating access to scholarly works.

Fair dealing is available in the contexts of education and research, but it is important to remember that copyright in Canada is a balance between users’ rights and creators’ rights. While instructors can engage in copying for their classes, it must be done in a fair and ethical manner.

One of the best resources to make sure your class readings fall under fair dealing is to make use of the Dalhousie Libraries course reserves service. By using the course reserves service, you’re taking the guesswork out of applying fair dealing guidelines for every work that is used as part of class readings, and reducing the cost of material for your students. The Dal Libraries’ course reserves service can upload material to Brightspace for you, or create stable links to course readings.

For more information on how fair dealing affects faculty, please take some time to read about fair dealing for faculty, and consult our Fair Dealing Guidelines. Please feel free to contact the Copyright Office with questions or comments at copyright.office@dal.ca