For Students

Copyright guidelines for Dal students

The copyright landscape in Canada has undergone significant changes recently. To ensure a fair and reasonable approach to the use of copyright protected materials on campus, Dalhousie has sought to balance the rights of users with those of creators. To help accomplish this, the University has established a Copyright Office and has most recently adopted updated Fair Dealing Guidelines.

The Fair Dealing Guidelines were developed by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and are based upon legal opinion from recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions as well as changes to the Copyright Act.

The role of the Dalhousie Libraries' Copyright Office is to provide educational programs and general advice on copyright issues and to monitor and encourage appropriate copyright practices on campus.

As students of Dalhousie University you may copy materials for which the university (e.g. the Library) has negotiated licenses according to the terms of the agreements. Additionally, an exception in the Copyright Act known as fair dealing allows you to make use of a work for yourself for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, news reporting, education, parody or satire.

Please review the University's Fair Dealing Guidelines for more information.