Personal Website Guidelines

Posting materials to the Open Web

It's important to remember that one of the factors to consider in making a successful fair dealing argument is the character of your dealing.  That is to say, are you dealing with a single copy or multiple copies, is the audience limited in scope or otherwise restricted in access? This is where the argument for posting to a password protected site versus the open web can be made.

Posting something on your own website means you are making the work available world-wide. Wide distribution tends towards the conclusion in any fair dealing analysis that the dealing is not fair. Also such uses may not be covered by any University licenses.

By contrast, Dalhousie's learning management systems (Brightspace) are password protected, secure websites accessible only by students enrolled in university courses. In most cases, posting material on Brightspace within the fair dealing guideline limits or covered by one of the University’s electronic subscriptions is an acceptable practice.

The key point to remember is just because you may post a copyright-protected work to Brightspace doesn’t mean you have permission to post the work on your own personal website. Posting to the open web should only be done when you have explicit permission of the copyright owner.  If you must post to the open web, please use persistent links to Dalhousie licensed resources or link directly to the website where the material resides.

Posting to the open web can only be done when:

• You have the explicit permission of the copyright owner.
• You are providing persistent links to Dalhousie licenced resources or linking directly to materials on external websites.

Please contact the Dalhousie Libraries' Copyright Office if you have any questions about posting materials on the open web.