Course Online Readings Service

What is the Course Online Readings Service?
What are online readings?
What is Reserve?
Who do I contact to submit a request?
Are there any special format requirements for the submission of materials?
How long will it be before the materials are available to students?
Can I scan my own materials and store them on my departmental server?
How much can I copy or scan?
What is the new communication right established in recent amendments to the Copyright Act?
What is the limit on the amount of material which can be communicated via the University network?
What are the alternatives if the material I wish to make available online exceeds the limits?
How do I link to online readings from my course web site?
What do I need to tell my students about off-campus access to online readings?
Will traditional print Reserve Collections continue to exist?
Will the Course Online readings Service replace printed course packs or notes?

What is the Course Online Readings Service?

The Course Online Readings Service is the University's official repository for the all digitized text-based copyright materials required for student course work.

It provides a centralised service for the submission, processing, production and copyright management of all readings from books and journals, to be made available online. Submitted materials will be scanned and made available via the Library's Online Catalogue Reserve Collection. The readings can also be accessed from a WebCT course site.

The service will source materials from the Library collection on request and provide advice on the use of existing electronic resources from full-text databases and electronic journal collections. The centralised processing of all digital copying will ensure more effective compliance with the requirements of the Copyright Act, and allow the creation of a repository of electronic readings as a University-wide resource.

The Service does not include lecture notes, solutions to assignments and exercises and other administrative materials relating to your course. This material will continue to be housed on course web sites on departmental and faculty servers.

What are online readings?

Basically there are two main types:

• printed materials such as chapters from books or journal articles which have been scanned into a digital format. The Online Course Readings Service will scan requested print materials into PDF format, for viewing using Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Acrobat software can be downloaded for free.
• existing digital documents such as full-text database articles, electronic journals, and electronic books. The Library staff operating the Course Online Readings Service will provide advice on the availability and use of existing electronic resources relevant to your subject. In most cases Library staff will simply provide a link to the electronic document. However, requests to link to such items must come via the Course Online readings Service to ensure that copyright and licence restrictions are observed.

What is Reserve?

Reserve collections are operated in most Libraries. They are short loan collections designed to ensure the availability of books and journal articles required for course reading. Loan conditions for Reserve collections may vary. Normally only one or two items may be borrowed at a time, for use within the Library for one to two hours.

Online readings form part of the Library's Reserve collections.

Who do I contact to submit a request?

For subject areas supported by libraries other than Fisher Library: Contact your Faculty or Subject Librarians - for a detailed list of contacts see http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/contacts/subjectcontacts.html

For subject areas supported by Fisher Library: Contact Special Reserve staff in Fisher library - for a detailed list of contacts see http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/fisher/reserve/subresp.html

For general information on the Course Online Readings Service contact: Kate Sexton, Deputy University Librarian Phone: 12991; E-mail: K.Sexton@library.usyd.edu.au

The requesting procedure is basically the same as that followed when requesting an item to be placed in one of the Library's Reserve Collections.

Electronic readings will automatically be accessible from the Library's Online Catalogue and Reserve Collection and will be searchable by author, article/chapter title, keywords, course code and lecturer's name.

You will need to indicate if you wish to have the items linked to a WebCT course web site. Library staff will advise you of the URL of the completed document to allow you to make a link from your web site to the documents.

Are there any special format requirements for the submission of materials?

There are two main submission options:

• you can simply provide a list of required items to the Reserve collection staff in your usual library. Lists of required items can also be submitted via email.
• if submitting a list via email, please indicate how long the items need to be available online or in the Reserve collection and whether you wish to link the electronic document to a course web site. Library staff will source the items from the Library collection or other libraries, and will advise you of existing electronic versions available through full-text databases and electronic journal collections.
• you may also retrieve items directly from the Library collection for submission with your reading list
.
• you can also provide good quality photocopies of original items and submit these to Reserve staff. Text should be clearly legible and reasonably square on the page with a margin of at least 2cm at the edges without any black edges.

In general we prefer that you ask Library staff to scan documents for you rather than scanning them yourself. The use of professional scanning equipment and document enhancement software by the centralised service will also ensure that scanned documents are of high quality and displayed in a consistent format.

for copyright management purposes, please supply full bibliographic details
(Author, Title, Date of Publication, Publisher, Place of Publication, Journal Title, Volume and Issue Number, Page Numbers) for all submitted items.

How long will it be before the materials are available to students?

We will endeavour to process your request as quickly as possible. The current turnaround time from submission to making available online is ten working days. This time may vary depending on demand and the number of readings requested in a particular job. You will be notified by Library staff of any potential delays.

Can I scan my own materials and store them on my departmental server?

No. From 4 March 2002, digitised copyright material may be located only on the Course Online Readings Service server. Digitised material currently on departmental, faculty or other servers must be transferred immediately.

The University has determined that it will provide a centralised service to minimise the risk of copyright infringement across the University. For this reason, all electronic copying of copyright materials intended to be made available online for courses must be processed through the Course Online Readings Service. All readings will include a copyright notice as required by the new Copyright Act, and authorised access will be restricted to students and staff of the University. If you have negotiated special conditions for access to any material please discuss this with the relevant Library staff.

How much can I copy or scan?

The copying of copyright material for educational purposes is governed by the statutory licence provision set out in Part VB of the Copyright Act. This allows the University to make multiple copies of material for student course work in return for a royalty payment.

The Act specifies the 'reasonable portion' of a copyright work or periodical publication which can be copied or communicated for educational purposes.

For works other than periodical articles this is defined as:

• hard copy to digital copying of works: 10% of the number of pages in a work, or if the work is divided into chapters, one chapter.
• more can be copied if the work is out of print. Library staff will assist you in determining this.
• Digital-to-digital copying of works: 10% of the number of words in a work, or if the work is divided into chapters, one chapter.
• more than 10% of an electronic literary, dramatic or musical work can be copied if the work is not available in electronic form within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price.
• the whole or part of a literary or dramatic work in a published anthology if not more than 15 pages;
• an artistic work which accompanies a literary or dramatic work for the purpose of explaining or illustrating text;
• the whole or part of an artistic work if it is not separately published or is unobtainable in a reasonable time.

For periodical publications the following can be copied or scanned:

• one article per issue of a periodical publication (whether copied in hard copy or digital format).
• two or more articles can be copied from the same issue of a periodical provided they relate to the same specific subject matter.

Note that the right to reproduce and communicate electronic material may be limited if the Library or University has signed a licence agreement specifying stricter limitations on copying and stricter conditions of access. On the other hand licence conditions may allow us to reproduce more than the Copyright Act permits. Library staff will provide advise on licence conditions governing the various full-text databases to which the Library subscribes.

all requests to scan and communicate materials will be checked for copyright compliance. You will be notified if your request is deemed to infringe copyright, and the Library staff will suggest alterative access methods to meet the information needs of your students.

What is the new communication right established in recent amendments to the Copyright Act?

The Digital Agenda Amendments to the Copyright Act, which came into effect in March 2001, created a new right for authors - the right to make their work available online via a communications network. The statutory licence provision of the Act, which enables the University to make multiple copies of copyright material for educational purposes, has been extended to the communication process. Universities can now make student course readings available online subject to some very significant restrictions - see below.

The University will be required to make a royalty payment to the copyright owner in return for the right to communicate the material, just as it makes a royalty payment for multiple copies. However, a rate for the communication royalty has not yet been determined.

What is the limit on the amount of material which can be communicated via the University network?

Yes there are strict limits on the amount of material which can be made available online. In the case of a published book (either print or electronic format) no more than 10%, or one chapter, of the work can be communicated across the entire University at any one time.

In other words, if a lecturer has copied a chapter of Patrick White's Voss, and made this available online, no other lecturer in the University can make another part of the same work available online in reliance on the Part VB licence until this first part is taken down. Failure to comply with this limit will result in loss of the licence for the second (and subsequent) portions of a work made available online.

Note that:

• This limit does not apply to periodical articles where a single article from an issue of a periodical can be communicated.
• More than a single article from an issue of a periodical can be communicated if the articles are on the same specific subject.
• More than one chapter or 10% of a separately published work may be communicated if the work is out of print. Library staff will assist you in determining this.
• Licence agreements entered into by the University may affect the amount of material which can be copied and communicated. Library staff will assist in interpreting the various licence agreements for full-text products.

All requests to communicate materials will be checked for copyright compliance. You will be notified if your request is deemed to infringe copyright, and the Library staff will suggest alterative access methods to meet the information needs of your students.

What are the alternatives if the material I wish to make available online exceeds the limits?

There may be situations where the material you wish to copy and communicate exceeds the limits set down by the Copyright Act. There will also be situations where you may find that another member of staff has already arranged for a chapter of a book to be made available online thus blocking you from making further chapters available online.

In these situations Library staff will discuss a range of options with you, including the following:

• Negotiating with the academic staff member who has requested that the initial chapter be made available online. It may be possible to take this chapter down and to make your chapter available online for a defined period of time.
• It may be possible to communicate a greater proportion of the works if it is out of print or permission has been obtained from the copyright owner.
• The limit on communication does not apply to print copies so it may be possible to arrange for the University Copy Service to produce the material you need in print for distribution or sale to your students.
• If it is not possible to make you item available online then the last resort may be It may be necessary to place the wanted volume in a print Reserve Collection

How do I link to online readings from my course web site?

All online readings will automatically be placed in the Library's Reserve Collection and will be accessible via the Online Catalogue and Reserve module of the Library system. They will be searchable by author, article/chapter title, keywords, course code and lecturer's name.

Library staff will supply you with the URL of your scanned document if you wish to create a link to the electronic document from your course web site.

Please refer your students to the Library Off Campus Access page at http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/databases/wam.html for information on how they can use online readings from off campus, as their UniKey and WebCT logins do not authenticate them to use Library electronic resources.

What do I need to tell my students about off-campus access to online readings?

To access online readings from off-campus, students need to either login to the Library's Remote Access system, apply for a password from the Library, or have an Extro account. Their UniKey login and their WebCT login do not authenticate them to use Library electronic resources, including online readings, from off-campus. Please refer them to the Library Off Campus Access page at http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/databases/wam.html

Will traditional print Reserve Collections continue to exist?

As more material is made available electronically the need for traditional print Reserve Collections will decrease. However, they are unlikely to disappear entirely. There will always be a need to provide access under short loan conditions to high demand books as it will not usually be possible to digitize entire works.

The collections of photocopied articles in Reserve Collections are expected to disappear quite quickly as these articles are most likely to either be digitized and made available online or the Library will subscribe to full-text databases and will provide a link to the individual article or journal.

Will the Course Online readings Service replace printed course packs or notes?

This may happen in time but in the interim it is anticipated that many faculties and departments will continue to produce printed course packs for students. It is still probably cheaper for course packs to be produced by the University Copy Centre Service than for students to print out all the material from an online source. The Online Course readings Service is particularly suitable for material you set for essays and assignments where online access is needed for a shorter period of time. Discuss the particular needs of your students with Library staff and with staff of the University Copy Centre.

Acknowledgement:
The University of Sydney library wishes to acknowledge the generosity of the University of Wollongong Library by giving us permission to use their Electronic Readings Service web site as the basis for this information package.