From Provost Sue V. Rosser:
At the beginning of each semester, some faculty have questions about selling or distributing course materials and course readers in their classes. These questions raise two issues:
- Faculty should not be selling, nor should they allow students or outside vendors to sell, any course materials or course readers in their classes. The University Policy on the “Use of Buildings and Grounds” prohibits commercial transactions in an academic building.
- Course materials, whether made available electronically or in course readers, should not violate federal copyright law. While this is an area of continued discussion and interest to faculty members, the underlying principles of “fair use” and copyright infringement must still be observed.
Copies of portions of articles can be made for classroom use without obtaining copyright permission only if they are spontaneous, brief and contain notice of copyright.
Faculty who have course materials reproduced are responsible for ensuring that proper copyright permissions have been obtained. The SF State Bookstore will automatically obtain the necessary copyright permissions for materials included in course readers sold through them. The Library’s electronic reserve service will obtain the necessary copyright permissions for materials put on electronic reserve.
If you have questions, please contact your department chair/director or college dean.