News & Blog

Now in its thirteenth year, Open Access Week is a global event that celebrates the Open Access (OA) movement. It aims to bring awareness to OA and explore the benefits it brings to all. In addition, it is a time for institutions to highlight Open Access efforts and activities locally at their institution. At UCF Libraries, we will be exploring a variety of OA topics during this year’s Open Access Week through blog posts and social media posts to help you learn more about Open Access and what it means for universities, libraries, society, and your own published works.

Summer is nearly here! As faculty work to develop online courses for the summer semester, questions may arise about copyright and fair use. Common questions about online classes and copyright include:

• Can I scan a book chapter and post it in Canvas?
• Am I allowed to add a PDF journal article to Canvas that I downloaded from UCF Libraries?
• Can I link to a YouTube video?

Whether you have a question about journal articles, e-books, or streaming video, UCF Libraries is available to assist you with any copyright, fair use, or licensing questions that you have.

The Office of Scholarly Communication offers a variety of resources and services to help you navigate the complexities of copyright in your online courses. Visit the website for more information about copyright: https://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/scholarly-communication/

If you have questions about copyright and fair use for your summer courses visit UCF Libraries Guide on Academic Resources during COVID-19 Situation: https://guides.ucf.edu/covid/home. It provides excellent resources and copyright clarifications to aid you in this process.

If you have additional questions, Scholarly Communication Librarian, Sarah Norris, is available to provide general guidance to faculty and staff about copyright and transitioning their classes online. For the month of May, Sarah is providing online office hours, Tuesday & Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – Noon. You can also reach her through email or phone.

Library Support for Course Materials

Whether you’re teaching online or face-to-face, UCF Libraries provide access to a variety of materials that can support your courses — from journal articles, streaming videos, e-books, and more. But, these materials have a wide variety of access models that are not always evident. In this session, UCF Librarians Sara Duff, Rich Gause, and Sarah Norris will share how to navigate the plethora of resources available to support teaching and learning with a particular emphasis on resources that can be used during remote teaching during emergency circumstances. How to access these materials and ensure they’re accessible by students, as well as copyright and licensing will also be explored in this session. 

Faculty Session: May 28, 2020 – 1:00 -2:00 pm

Copyright and Student Works

Copyright is an important part of student works. As UCF students, they not only use copyrighted content but are also creators of copyrighted content. That’s because when a student writes a research paper, thesis, or dissertation, creates a presentation, or produces any other original and creative work, students own the copyright of those works — without having to apply for copyright. In this session, we will explore copyright as it applies to students and will provide context and recommendations that faculty can use to help foster students to be good stewards of copyright and intellectual property and to aid in ensuring student copyright is protected. 

Open to all: June 16, 2020 – 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Sarah Norris, UCF Scholarly Communications Librarian, and Rich Gause, UCF Government Information Librarian, will provide a session on Copyright, Fair Use, and Online Teaching During Emergency Circumstances. This session will be held via Zoom on Thursday, May 7^th at 3 p.m. All UCF faculty are welcome to attend. The session will provide a bit of information on fair use (exploring the four fair use factors in depth) and other components that will be helpful as you consider the materials you need when teaching online. 

Specific copyright and fair use questions can be directed to Sarah Norris and Rich Gause ahead of time or during the session. 

Zoom Link for the online session

See also our online guide “Academic Resources during COVID-19 Situation: Copyright Clarifications”

We hope you are doing well with the all of the changes in how we work and how we teach. As you begin recovering from spring and moving into summer course planning, your friendly librarian is here to support you.

Many of our students are struggling with the loss of income due to the Coronavirus. One way you can pay it forward is by choosing course materials that are always free to our students, making textbooks one less thing they need to worry about. If you are updating your course for summer, we hope you will consider using either library-sourced materials or Open Educational Resources.

In recent weeks, many vendors have reached out with offers of free or reduced cost materials.  What is unclear is how long these offers will last. Open Educational Resources are a great option, with no expiration date on being free. To ensure that the library-sourced materials will be available throughout the semester, check with your subject librarian.

Sifting through all the possibilities can be overwhelming. Count on UCF Libraries to provide support every step of the way.

We can provide your class with a virtual library instruction session or you can assign information literacy modules with graded assignments on topics such as avoiding plagiarism, citing sources, or conducting an literature review.

Additional services for faculty are available at https://library.ucf.edu/services/services-for-faculty/.

Answers to more general questions about library services can be found at https://guides.ucf.edu/continuity/home.

To learn about Textbook Affordability efforts at UCF, visit https://library.ucf.edu/textbook-affordability/.