Copyright law recognizes the need for professors and students to be able to use copyrighted works in the course of teaching activities. Many copyrighted materials may be used in the classroom either under fair use, a statutory exemption, or through a license agreement with the Library.
Course Materials Created by Faculty
Teaching materials, such as syllabi, examination questions and answers, lectures, PowerPoint and other presentation slides, and videos used in Georgetown University courses are the intellectual property of the creator of the material. Students may not upload course materials for public distribution, or use course materials in any way beyond academic uses in connection with the course, without written permission from the course instructor. Read more on our Instructor-Created Course Materials page.
Published Course Materials
Books, articles, and films are all subject to copyright protection. The information below sets out policies and procedures for using Library materials in courses at Georgetown University.
Print Materials
Online Materials
- Electronic Reserves
- Use of Instructional Material in Online Courses
- Use of Instructional Materials Chart
- Open Educational Resources (scroll down to "Teaching Materials" for materials with few or no restrictions on use)
Film and Media
Other Materials
Whenever you use the works of others in your teaching, you will need to find for an exception to copyright law that will allow the use of the materials.
- Works in the public domain may be used freely, without any copyright restrictions.
- Most works with Creative Commons licenses may be used for non-profit educational purposes - always check the details of the license to be sure that your use is covered.
- You may use limited portions of copyrighted material in your work without permission of the copyright owner. Before using a work under the fair use doctrine, however, you will need to evaluate whether your use qualifies as fair, which must be done on a case-by-case basis by analyzing the four fair use factors: the purpose and character of your use; the nature of the copyrighted work; the amount and substantiality of the portion taken; and the effect of the use upon the potential market.
- If the work you are using does not fall into any of the categories above, you can request permission from the copyright holder.
For additional information, our Copyright Videos and Using the Works of Others pages are designed to help the Georgetown community understand their rights and responsibilities when using third-party materials.