Most Canadian Universities and Colleges Outside of Quebec Rely on Fair Dealing Rather than Access Copyright

Abstract

A Review of:

Henderson, S., McGreal, R., & Vladimirschi, V. (2018). Access Copyright and fair dealing guidelines in higher educational institutions in Canada: A survey. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 13(2), 1-37. https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v13i2.4147

Abstract

Objective – To investigate the interpretations of fair dealing applied across Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec and to determine whether such institutions have a licence with Access Copyright.

Design – Descriptive/quantitative study.

Setting – Canadian post-secondary education sector, excluding Quebec.

Subjects – A total of 159 Canadian post-secondary institutions outside of Quebec, including 75 universities and 84 colleges.

Methods – A list of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec was compiled. Data from participants relating to the research objective—reliance on an Access Copyright licence or use and interpretation of fair dealing—was collected via internet searches or, if unavailable online, via direct telephone communication with participants.

Main Results – A majority of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec, approximately 78% (124 institutions), did not have a licence with Access Copyright. The smaller the institution, the likelier it was to have an Access Copyright licence. This was in part linked to the fact that smaller institutions typically do not have staff specializing in copyright; savings from terminating Access Copyright licences (charged on a per student basis) would not justify the creation of such positions. Regarding fair dealing, 18% of study participants based their approach on the Supreme Court of Canada’s six-factor test (29 institutions), while 53% applied the fair dealing guidelines created by Universities Canada (85 institutions).

Conclusion – Most of the institutions studied did not have Access Copyright licences and were relying on fair dealing instead, suggesting a bellwether for the copyright climate in the Canadian higher education sector towards fair dealing. Institutions may benefit from a future national consensus regarding interpretations of fair dealing concepts.