Copyright Compliance in Teaching and Learning at Wabash

As a private, independent, four year Liberal Arts institution that “educates men to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely,” Wabash College recognizes the importance of intellectual property to the creation and dissemination of knowledge. In acknowledgement of its ethical and legal obligations the College strives to comply with copyright laws and licensing agreements in the responsible use of information for teaching, learning and administration of the College. To that end the College has adopted a Copyright Compliance Policy that seeks a balance between the need to easily access and use information for scholarship and the right of the copyright owner to exercise reasonable control over its use.

U.S. Copyright Law, Title 17 of the United States Code protects most modern intellectual property. It gives the copyright owner exclusive rights to restrict use of his or her work by others.  However, “fair use” provisions of the law grant limited exemptions for educational purposes.  There are few hard and fast rules in those provisions.   The purpose of this web site is to provide guidelines to inform the fair use of protected works in teaching and learning activities, and procedures for obtaining permission for use when needed.  Use that is neither exempt by provision of copyright law nor allowed by permission of the copyright owner is copyright infringement.

The sidebar on the left organizes the copyright compliance guidelines by material type (audiovisual, text, music, and images) and means of delivery (coursepacks, library reserves, and Moodle). The Site Index offers an alternative form of guidance, as do the Frequently Asked Questions, Rules of Thumb