February 26-March 2 marks Fair Dealing Week 2018, but what is fair dealing and how does it benefit you? Fair dealing is a section of the Canadian Copyright Act, which outlines a user’s right to use short excerpts of copyright protected work for one of eight purposes:
- Research
- Criticism
- Review
- Private study
- Education
- News reporting
- Parody
- Satire
Fair dealing promotes creativity and innovation, and is a vital part of the Copyright Act. Luckily for colleges and universities, education was added as an accepted use under fair dealing in 2012. Since then, fair dealing has been used to the great benefit of students across Canada.
Fair dealing isn’t just used for educational purposes though, it’s around us every day. When a news report includes photos or video clips, a book review quotes sections from a novel, or a friend shares an article with you, these are all possible because of fair dealing.
Want to know more about fair dealing and copyright? Come to the library lobby on Wednesday, February 28 from 11 am to 1 pm to visit Langara’s Copyright Librarian, answer copyright trivia, and enter to win a Starbucks gift card!
Have questions but can’t make it on Wednesday? Email copyright@langara.ca.
Instructors are encouraged to take our new online tutorial, Copyright for Instructors, and learn copyright basics to follow while putting together coursework. Topics include sharing journal articles with students, copying material from the Internet, and creating lecture slides. You can self-register for the online tutorial on your Brightspace home page and complete the lesson at any time!
