The IPO advises that it may be within the scope of 'fair dealing' to make single photocopies of short extracts of a copyright work for non-commercial research or private study, criticism or review, or reporting current events. General guidance for fair dealing indicates that the following would be deemed to be acceptable:
TIP: making multiple copies is not seen as fair dealing and can only be done under the CLA Higher Education License. See Copying Books and Journals for Class Purposes.
You can quote parts of work for the purposes of criticism or review. The Society of Authors advises:
An extract of 400 words maximum.
A series of extracts, each 300 words maximum, totaling not more than 800 words.
40 lines or 25% or a poem.
Works must be correctly acknowledged.
You can use short extracts of work for the purposes of reporting current affairs provided that the sources are sufficiently acknowledged. This exemption does NOT cover photographs.
The UK Intellectual Property Office advises that "fair dealing" with a photograph for the purposes of non-commercial research or for private study does not infringe any copyright in the photograph. It must be accompanied by sufficient acknowledgment where practical
You are permitted to copy up to 10 per cent or 20 pages of a printed copy for research or private study under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act.
The library also has access to the British Standards Online Service which permits the download of a single standard.
Standards may not be copied or circulated electronically, including by electronic mail, even for internal use within the licensed site.
The licensed user may copy a maximum of 10 per cent of the content of a British Standard and paste it into a document for internal use.
This must be accompanied by the following statement:
Copyright BSI © Date (where date is the date of copyrighted material).
British Standards Online (BSOL) terms and conditions of use are available via BSOL website
The University has a Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Higher Education licence which allows additional copying for educational purposes beyond that which is allowed under the Act.
This does not cover: AV material, maps, newspapers or electronic sources (including databases) – these are licensed separately.
From 1 August 2016, the licence allows multiple copies to be made for students – one per student plus one for the lecturer – with the following restrictions:
A single or several extract(s) from a published edition totalling no more than 10% of the whole work - or
One chapter in a book
One article in a journal or a set of conference proceedings
Up to ten pages of one short story or poem in an anthology
One whole single case in a set of judicial proceedings
Diagrams, illustrations, drawings, photographs and other graphic works may be copied either alone or as part of the above limits, provided they are copied from licensed material
Acetates and OHP transparencies may be copied for class use.
The CLA licence includes the following restrictions:
Material may not be stored in digital format unless scanned by library staff
Copies must not be sold or hired
Not all publishers, publications or countries are covered under the licence – please see the CLA excluded categories and works list. Specific title permissions can be checked through title search tool on the CLA website
photocopying guidance can also be found next to the photocopiers.
Works from some US publishers can be copied under a reciprocal agreement.
More information about participating US publishers on the CLA website
For information on scanning copies, please see our scanning for class purposes page.
Many UK government documents are protected by Crown copyright, which can last up to 125 years.
Materials covered typically by Crown copyright include acts, statutory instruments, explanatory notes to acts, national curriculum material, court forms, press releases etc.
The government permits materials protected by Crown and Parliamentary copyright to be used quite freely under the Open Government Licence but there are exceptions, especially relating to logos and third party information. Please check the UK Government Licensing Framework for further information.
The licence for the re-use of information covered by Parliamentary copyright is the Open Parliament Licence (OPL).
The OPL permits the same activities; and carries the same restrictions and exemptions as the Open Government License
The University has a licence with the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) which allows members of the university:
The NLA website provides a full list of newspapers, national and regional, covered by the licence. If the paper you require is not listed, you should contact the publishers direct for permission to copy.
Please note: The Times Educational Supplement and the Times Higher Educational Supplement are NOT covered by this licence nor are any foreign language and therefore can not be copied.
All copies to be annotated with the following text:
"NLA Licensed Copy. No further copies may be made except under licence".
TIP: you can make multiple PRINT copies of certain papers under the NLA licence. If you want a digital version, you may be able to link to a copy of the article in one of the library’s many newspaper eresources
The Higher Education Copyright licence allows some material to be stored in digital format, provided that it is:
There are certain restrictions:
Permissions for specific items can be checked using the title search tool on the CLA website.
Some items are not included in the licence:
However the library may be able to source a copy for you by other means. Alternatively, there may be digital material in one of the library’s subscription databases. Contact your information librarian for assistance.
The CLA consider “compilations consisting of a series of chapters from ‘core’ student textbooks” to be in breach of the spirit of the licence. Guidelines for what is considered to be a suitable course pack are available through:
The CLA and Universities UK - Good practice guide in the creation of course packs
Extracts from books eg images, tables or graphs, can be added to a PowerPoint presentation provided the scanning is performed by library staff.
For more advice, please contact the following staff:
Julie Kingstone: Digital Systems Support Librarian
Room: ML108 Ext: 3613. Tel: 023 8201 3613
E-mail: julie.kingstone@solent.ac.uk
You can produce study packs using material already covered by the CLA licence.
Please see copying books and journals for class purposes for restrictions on the amount to be copied.
Production costs only can be charged and no profit can be made from the sale of study packs
The CLA would consider "compilations consisting of a series of chapters from ‘core’ student textbooks" to be in breach of the spirit of the licence.