There are four main ways to distribute course readings to your students:
Library Online Course Reserves
Library Online Course Reserves (LOCR), also called online course reserves, is a tool that allows you to create a single list with all the course materials for each of your courses. This list can be made up of articles, books, web links, and media resources. Using Online Course Reserves, you will be able to locate and select any print or electronic resources you’d like added to your list. Your students will be able to use these lists to access their readings directly online. You can also use tags in order to group list items into discrete sets (e.g., week 1, week 2).
After your reading list is created, you’ll be provided with a link that you can circulate to students in any way you like: print syllabus, email, posting to an LMS (e.g. Canvas, Entrada, Connect, MEDICOL), etc. The link will work only for enrolled students and for a particular course. At the end of the course, the list will be removed, but you can reactivate the list for the next time you teach the course.
When you use Online Course Reserves, Library staff will ensure that the resources you have selected are made accessible in accordance with copyright law. Where applicable, the list will link directly to full-text electronic journal articles or PDFs created in accordance with the Copyright Act (which may include utilizing fair dealing, or obtaining permission from the copyright owner). Note, if a resource cannot be made accessible in compliance with the Copyright Act, Library staff will contact you, and will not post the resource.
The Library website has an online guide to adding resources to your Online Course Reserves list (as well as an accompanying series of instructional YouTube videos). Once you’ve arrived at the library guide, click on the “Instructor Resources” tab for instructions on getting started and adding resources.
If you need any further assistance with this tool, you can also contact Course Reserves at the library branch for your discipline.
Uploading to a Learning Management System (LMS)
You may choose to upload resources to an LMS (e.g. Canvas, Entrada, Connect, MEDICOL) yourself; however, you may do so only if:
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- you have the copyright owner’s permission to do so;
- the use falls within one of the exceptions in the Copyright Act, such as Fair Dealing; or
- where no permission is required, such as scanning a public domain work.
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If the copy is taken from one of UBC’s licensed electronic resources (including subscription e-journals), then the license may permit you to upload into the learning management system. However, the license may not permit this, and may even restrict your ability to utilize fair dealing.
For more information on uploading resources into learning management systems , please contact your Faculty learning technologies support.
If you have any questions, please contact our office at copyright.services@ubc.ca.
Print Handouts
You may make short copies of works to hand out to each student in your classroom or post short copies of such works into UBC’s secure learning management systems, if they are “Short Excerpts”, as defined by the Fair Dealing Requirements for Faculty and Staff.
If you want to provide articles or excerpts from a book to students on a regular basis, for example, every year that you teach the course, and you know what articles or excerpts you want to distribute in advance, you should consider creating a reading list in the Online Course Reserves, uploading into UBC’s learning management system or creating a coursepack instead.
If you want to distribute material from the web, check the website’s “Terms of Use” or “Legal Notices” section to make sure your intended use isn’t prohibited. Content from the web is protected by copyright law in the same way as print and other formats, even if there is no copyright symbol or notice. If you have reason to believe that the website may contain content posted without the permission of the copyright owner, you should avoid using it.
Coursepacks
If you want to distribute paper copy of all of the readings for your course, then the UBC Bookstore will assist you by: ensuring that the readings you are including in the course pack are in compliance with the Copyright Act, printing the coursepack, and making it available for purchase by your students. Note, providing details such as book/journal title, web address, author name, ISBN/ISSN number, page range and total number of pages in a book will help to reduce processing times.
The cost of coursepacks varies depending on copyright fees, the number of pages and documents, and the volume of coursepacks being produced. Those costs are reflected in the selling price of the coursepack.
If you have any questions about the process of ordering a coursepack and related copyright issues, email the Bookstore:
Vancouver campus: custom.course@ubc.ca
Okanagan campus: ubco.coursematerials@ubc.ca
