Staffordshire University Copyright Guidance

As you may be aware, Staffordshire University holds a copyright licence which enables academics and support staff to photocopy, scan and re-use published material, such as books, journals, periodicals, and digital originals to support Learning and Teaching.

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) will be conducting a remote data collection exercise regarding the photocopying and printing of these published works. This information helps the CLA to pay the authors, publishers, and visual artists whose work is being copied, so our role is an integral and much valued part of this process. Some of the creators who, as a result of this exercise, will receive royalties for the re-use of their work may even be colleagues at our University.

The exercise will between Monday 16 January 2023 to Friday 24 February 2023 and includes ALL academic and professional services colleagues.
You don’t need to do anything until the above dates but please take the time to familiarise yourself with what you will need to do and the ways in which you will be able to submit data.

Find out more at CLA Licensing Audit - IRIS (staffs.ac.uk)

Between Monday 16 January 2023 and Friday 24 February 2023, you will need to record any photocopying that you undertake both on campus and remotely.
Some examples of the kinds of material that should be reported are:

• Photocopying of books, journals, periodicals, etc. including extracts or line quotes.
• Making copies of copies.
• Copyright content transcribed and used in a printed resource such as a presentation/handout.
• Open resources and material from hybrid publications, where a mix of copyright and open access content is included (particularly in journals or other collections of work).
• Resources provided to non-credit bearing students (e.g., professional, or short courses).
•  'On-copying' of born digital – where a digital resource is printed out then used to copy from – made under the CLA licence is subject to the same terms as a photocopy so should be included.

You will only need to include relevant material which you are distributing in printed format.

You’ll also need to submit the URL of the sites used most widely in your work or professional development via a separate form as part of this exercise.

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page on IRIS to find out more. 

There are a few different ways that you will be able submit your data during the collection period both on campus and remotely.

• Recording data on photocopied materials on campus:
  If you're on campus, you will be able to record your data collection using our on-campus PaperCut MF printers.
   
• Recording data on photocopies remotely:
  Not on campus? You will be able to record your copies remotely by using Snap surveys. A weblink will be circulated ahead of the collection dates for you to bookmark.
   
• Recording website data:
  A form will be made available for you to submit the URL of the sites used most widely in your work or professional development.

More detailed guidance on the above will be available on a dedicated IRIS area in the new year. Keep an eye out for updates

What if a publication doesn’t have an ISBN/ISSN?
Secondary identifiers such as title and publisher are helpful so the more detail you can give us the better, particularly if copying from another photocopy.  If you’re not sure you can email this material to us as we have several tools which can help to identify a publication. 

Why does CLA need this information?
Most of the revenue we get from our licence holders is redistributed as royalty payments.  Only by collecting data can we ascertain whose work is being copied and how much the rights’ holders should be paid.  Academic staff often publish material so, potentially, you could be helping higher education colleagues as well as creators outside the sector. 

Are there any cost implications for my department?
There are no penalties for high volume copying of copyright material however many people you are sharing it with.  However, it is important to be aware of what the licence allows you to copy so further details can be found at https://cla.co.uk/higher-education-licence-docs   

I seldom photocopy published material - do I really need to be involved?
During the remote exercise even if you copy something just once you still need to let us know. A one-off copying event may seem inconsequential but when aggregated with data from other institutions, its value can become very significant.

All my print copies come from digital material – do I need to include it?
For ‘born-digital’ content, once a paper printout has been made under the CLA licence, it is subject to the same terms and conditions as a photocopy and should be recorded as part of the data collection. Please see HE Licence User Guidelines for details.

Why do you include open access and crown copyright content?
Whilst usually beyond the scope of your CLA licence, there are occasions when we can make a royalties payment for this type of content, particularly when they appear alongside other published material such as in a journal.  Rather than ask colleagues to check qualifying criteria it may be easier to include all relevant material and anything which is not payable will simply be filtered out when the data is processed. 

Are exam papers which include copyright extracts collected?
Copying of papers for examination use are excluded.  However, if any other use is involved, such as using a paper after the exam in a lecture or course pack, it will need to be included.

Further information including title search & excluded works, can be found at www.cla.co.uk