Copyright

General Information

Copyright protects the moral and economic rights of writers, publishers and other creators and applies to physical materials and to the electronic environment.

Copyright is infringed by copying without permission. All staff and students of the University have obligations to observe copyright law and the terms of associated licences. Information about copying guidelines can be found next to all Library photocopiers and scanners and on the following university copyright pages.

Advice for Academic Staff

The Copyright Licensing Agency Higher Education Licence enables the use of extracts of copyright protected printed books and journals to support teaching. It does not apply to any materials other than printed books and journals. It applies both to photocopying and scanning (digitisation).

Institutions are required to limit scanning to nominated individuals, to record every item scanned, and to ensure that a digital version is not already available commercially. The Library has established a digitisation service to ensure that the terms of the licence are adhered to. The CLA provides detailed User Guidelines to the licence.

Accessing Durham University Copyrighted Materials.

Durham University holds extensive collections of international repute within its many libraries.  Authors and researchers wishing to include material held within these collections within their own work must secure the necessary copyright permissions from university authorities. 

Users wishing to make use of Durham University copyrighted materials must, in the first instance, contact the University's Copyright Officer, Colin Theakston. He will endeavour to either answer the query himself or pass it on to relevant expert staff.

Researchers and writers wishing to make use of the vast collections held at our Palace Green Library are encouraged to visit their web-pages at PG Library to browse their holdings and secure the necessary copyright permissions from the options available there.