Saint Mary’s University understands both the desire to protect scholarly research and writing, and the need to advance knowledge. The university believes in fairly compensating content creators for their contributions to academic advancement while maximizing the permissions granted to us through our paid licensing agreements and the educational exceptions in the Copyright Act.
The Copyright Act has been amended and modernized in recent years. These amendments provide educational institutions with rights to access, make and distribute content to their students. Reproducing a work can include photocopying, scanning, downloading, or uploading the material. Library licensing agreements for electronic content also outline how certain materials can be shared.
Faculty, Staff and Students must comply with the Copyright Act and these licensing agreements. Saint Mary's University has adopted Fair Dealing guidelines to support SMU's goal of total copyright compliance. This guide was created to help ensure full copyright compliance by offering information on copyright and best practices. It does not provide legal advice.
We invite you to contact us to discuss your questions, concerns, feedback, or suggestions relating to copyright or this guide. We can be reached at:
This service helps instructors connect students with readings and course content in an accessible manner. We will review your assigned readings and provide links for licensed content that will work both on and off campus. We can also assist in finding Open Access resources, navigate Fair Dealing exceptions, and help you obtain copyright permission when required. Send your syllabus or course resource list to copyright@smu.ca.
If you plan to assign films in your courses, it's important to know that film licenses can expire, and streaming services might remove titles. Contact the Copyright Office before the start of the term to ensure films will still be available when your students need them.
Are you interested in learning more about copyright? We're happy to present on a variety of copyright-related topics to the SMU community. We can host classroom sessions, speak at department or staff meetings, or participate in student societies or association events. Feel free to reach out to the Copyright Office at copyright@smu.ca to discuss your options and schedule a session. We're here to help!
We are here to help! If you are unsure about the permissions of a given work the best thing to do is ASK and we will do our best to give you all the relevant information in a timely fashion.
Send the Copyright Office an email at copyright@smu.ca with your question. A few things to include in your email are: