Licences

City University holds various licences which allow copying outside the terms of the safe copying limits outlined on our About Copyright page (click on the link on the left). Each licence has its own terms, conditions and restrictions as determined by an external organisation. The information below offers only very general guidance. For advice on specific cases, users should contact the Library by completing our "Ask A Copyright Question" form (click on the link on the left).

Copyright Licensing Agency

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) licence allows:

Multiple photocopying and scanning outside normal safe copying limits. See our separate page which details what is permitted. NOTE THAT ONLY AUTHORISED PERSONS MAY MAKE SCANNED COPIES OF PUBLISHED MATERIAL. Academic staff wanting to make digital copies available to their students should see our information on the Library’s digital course readings service.
Commercial copying under certain clearly-defined circumstances listed on page 10 of the CLA's user guidelines.

Certain categories of material and particular works are excluded from the Licence, for example maps, printed music (including the words), and newspapers. Exclusions are listed in full on the CLA web site.

See the CLA's user guidelines for more information.

Note for NHS staff and students at City Community and Health Sciences:

NHS staff, whether studying or not, will be covered by City University’s Higher Education Institute licence whilst on university premises, and should therefore refer to the copyright guidelines for students given above.
In March 2007, the CLA and the NHS agreed a central photocopying and scanning licence for the NHS in England which remains in effect until 31st March 2008. There is more information about this on the CLA website.
City University students are covered by the HE licence when on City University premises.

Newspaper Licensing Agency

Copying from newspapers is allowed within generally accepted safe copying limits. City University also has a Licence with the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) which permits cuttings to be photocopied and scanned. See the NLA web site for further details.

Educational Recording Agency (off-air broadcasts)

The Educational Recording Agency (ERA) Licensing Scheme permits staff at educational establishments to record, for non-commercial educational purposes, broadcast output of ERA Members - note that many digital-only broadcasters are excluded from this list.
Licensed recordings can be retained, stored and copied (in both analogue and digital formats) and then relayed within the establishment, for example for showing in class. They may not be made available to students and staff off-site, for example via CitySpace.
Note that an ERA Licence does not cover Open University programming (see the Open University section below).
See the ERA’s “Frequently Asked Questions” page for more information.

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey (OS) produces a pdf document entitled “Reproduction of Ordnance Survey mapping for educational purposes”, Section 3 of which details what is covered and not covered under the terms of our OS Licence.

Open University

City University has a Licence from the Open University (OU) to record 'off-air' and use the programmes which the OU produces. There are special terms and conditions relating to this licence which are different from those which apply to the ERA Licence. For example, a report must be submitted to the OU annually, detailing which programmes have been recorded and an annual fee must be paid so that City can retain copies of those recordings. See the OU website for further details.

Public Sector Information

In most cases, copying of material produced by the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is pemissible within the constraints of the fair-use guidelines mentioned on our About Copyright page.

Permissions for scanning or downloading public sector information often depend on the type of material in question or its originating body. Categories of material where this is the case are listed on the OPSI website's PSI Licence Information page in the section headed "Do I need a PSI Licence?" Each item on these lists is linked to information about permissions which apply in each case.

Material not covered by these lists is likely to be covered by the University's OPSI "Click-Use" Licence. The terms of this licence are detailed on the OPSI website.