Materials in either a print or electronic format can be used for course materials at York.
Print Format
The following is a list of printed materials that instructors can utilize for their courses.
- Books or textbooks to be purchased by students.
- A custom course pack prepared for printing by the York Bookstore. There are also local copy shops who provide comprehensive copyright clearance services and who can confirm full compliance with all copyright legislation for material submitted. If York University’s service is unable to produce course kits one of these local copy shops may be able to assist.
- A book or a copy of an article placed on reserve in the York Libraries.
- For materials not licensed by York's Libraries, a class handout of a single copy of a short excerpt from a copyright-protected work for each student (see Application of the Fair Dealing Policy for Universities to Teaching and Research by University Faculty for details). If, after that review, your item qualifies as Fair Dealing, you may wish to contact York's Printing Services to print the copies. Or, for assistance when copying falls outside of York's Fair Dealing Guidelines just email copy@yorku.ca. Staff will be able to provide you with a list of options that are available to you.
- Your own works, for which you own the copyright.
- Copies of works in the public domain.
- Copies of works that are published under an Open Access or Creative Commons licence.
- An instructor is allowed to copy, play in class, or distribute to students, materials that you have found on the Internet, under the following conditions:
- the material was posted legitimately - work available through the internet can not be reproduced if the educational institution or person acting under its authority knows or should have known that the work was made available through the Internet without the consent of the copyright owner;
- there is no visible notice prohibiting use (and not merely the copyright symbol);
- there is no digital lock preventing access or copying; and
- the source and author of the work is properly acknowledged.
For information on how to use digital content on a York University Course Learning Management System (LMS) see:
Copyright Q & A Sessions
If you would like more information on copyright and your course materials, consider attending a Copyright Information session. All copyright-related questions or concerns can be discussed with staff from York's Copyright Office.
