Copyright Resources

Confused about copyright? You’ve come to the right place.

Copyright awareness is a competency that is becoming more critical for students, faculty, and researchers, especially in the digital landscape and online learning environment. Copyright law is complicated and sometimes open to interpretation; “fair use” does not mean “fair game.” Recognizing this, the library at RUMC assembled a Copyright Awareness Team for the creation of this guide, which included representatives from the library, instructional design, legal affairs, and other University departments. The goal was to provide access to high quality and up to date copyright resources, educational opportunities, and information, and a link to RUSH’s legal experts when necessary.

This guide includes a wealth of resources that will help you find information on copyright and plagiarism in the academic environment. Specifically, this guide focuses on students and faculty who wish to use others’ works, which may or may not be copyrighted. This is not a source designed to answer specific legal questions. If you do have a specific question, please contact Legal Affairs at 312- 942-6886.

Who should care about copyright, and why?

• Faculty:  avoiding copyright infringement in teaching (e.g. distributing pdfs of articles, linking to a resource in Blackboard, etc.) 
• Faculty and students:  protecting their own work as they create and publish their work
• Students:  avoiding copyright infringement and plagiarism