Copyright Policy and Resource Guide Copyright & the Digital World

(Electronic Postings & eReserves)

The online College library database includes materials maintained electronically. The college makes these documents available through its licensing agreement with various third party providers, such as ebrary, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, etc. Each time you access materials in these databases, you agree to the terms of those agreements which permit you to use the materials to the extent that doing so is consistent with US copyright laws.

To determine whether the work you would like to use in connection with a course is available electronically, you can search the library’s databases. Here’s how:

Book Search

Go to the library’s database. Click on, “ROGER.” Conduct a title search for the book you want by entering its title in the “Find This” field. Limit your search to electronic resources by selecting “eBooks-eJournals” in the “Quick Limit” search box just below your book title.

eJournals

Go to the library's database. Near the top of the page” you’ll see a search box called, “Find Periodicals.” Enter the title of the journal in the search box.

If the book or journal you want is available electronically it will appear with a link to its online location. Your students can access the link by simply conducting the same simple title searches outlined above to access the reading materials you’ve assigned. You can place any material you find here on eReserve in ROGER. You’ll find instructions on how to place material on eReserve here.

But what if the library databases don’t include the reading material that I need?

Eureka to the rescue! Eureka allows you to post resources for your students as a PDF, a web link or a word document. It’s like your own little private electronic reserve system you can use for all of your classes. You won’t have a licensing agreement when you post documents in this way. So, you’ll have to analyze your posting under the same fair use guidelines that apply in the paper world. In other words, if fair use would allow you to copy the document and distribute it to students in your course, you may also place the document on Eureka. If your use does not fit the fair use exemption, you must seek permission from the publisher as you would for any other publication. The textbook management office in the college book store can help you do this. Once you’ve determined that fair use guidelines permit your use or received the publisher’s permission to use the material, you’re ready to post on Eureka.

Posting on Eureka

If you haven’t already found and made use of Eureka as a way to post readings for your students, you can quickly learn how to do so. First, scan the document you want your students to have and save it as a PDF or word document on your computer. Then, go to https://eureka.westmont.edu. Use your email name and password to log on. Select “Faculty Guide to Eureka.” Click on, “How to Add a Resource” and you will see a four minute instructional video on how to post readings for students in any of your courses. It’s that easy. Before you know it, you’ll be uploading PDFs and word documents and posting them on Eureka like you’ve been doing it all of your life.

Just as you would for paper documents, materials you post on Eureka should include the copyright information for the work (author, title, publisher and date of publication). Also, because the digital world makes documents more amenable to use outside of what is “fair,” we need to take a few additional precautions. Fortunately two of the most common precautions are available to us when we use Eureka; those precautions are password protecting the document and restricting access to the document to those students who are enrolled in the course for which the document is posted. Inherent in using Eureka are these two precautions. A third precaution to help guard against misuse is simply removing the document at the close of the course. This is done by entering the course on Eureka, turning editing on, and clicking on the open eye that appears to the right of the document. The eye will change to a closed eye that indicates that students