The codes of best practice were designed to provide a legal framework for libraries when using copyright protected materials. While the codes have undergone legal and peer review processes and do present legally defensible and judicious models for the application, they are not intended to be a substitute for legal advice.
Strengthening Canadian User Rights
Canadian fair dealing is widely recognized as one of the most flexible and robust copyright exceptions in the world, with courts emphasizing that a restrictive interpretation would undermine the balance between creators’ rights and users’ rights. While fair dealing is routinely and effectively used in the education sector through established guidelines, its application to many other activities remains unclear. As a result, numerous Canadian communities of practice avoid relying on the exception, reinforcing permission-seeking practices and inhibiting innovative projects. Strengthening Canadian User Rights through Shared Understanding: Adapting the Codes of Best Practices in Fair Use for Canada argues that, although fair dealing is not identical to U.S. fair use, it is sufficiently similar that the principles and limitations outlined in U.S. codes of best practices can inform a Canadian framework. The authors also propose collaborating with Canadian communities of practice to develop a network of new or adapted fair dealing codes of best practices.
Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources
The Code of Best Practices in Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources explores the legal and practical application of fair dealing in the context of Open Educational Resource (OER) creation in Canada. The Canadian Code was adapted from its U.S. counterpart, the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Open Educational Resources and benefited from both the robust consultation process undertaken by the U.S. Code authors, their framework and practical examples. The Canadian Code draws extensively on Appendix Three of the U.S. Code, written by Canadian legal scholar, Dr. Carys Craig.
While the Code is not legal advice it provides a legally defensible and judicious model for the application of the fair dealing exception when incorporating third-party copyrighted content into OER. The Code details the relevant Canadian legislative and legal context and supplies relevant practical examples. The Code is intended to empower Canadian creators and adopters of OER to make use of fair dealing, while also fostering institutional and legal support for doing so. Understanding the scope and flexibility that the fair dealing exception offers will assist with the risk-benefit analysis and ensure that OERs achieve their pedagogical, pragmatic, and social functions. Furthermore, robust OERs fulfill institutional ethical and sometimes legal obligations to make resources universally accessible to their communities.
Adoption of the Code by educational institutions and the OER and copyright communities at large will benefit students and educators in Canada by not only ensuring that educational resources are high quality and accessible but by educating them on Canadian copyright and fortifying the balance of user and creator rights.
The Canadian Code adaptation was undertaken by a Canadian Association of Research Libraries Working Group and benefited from legal review and feedback from the Canadian copyright and OER communities. The Code reflects best practices as of the date of publication (2024) and may be revised and updated as necessary.
- Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources (PDF)
- Fair Dealing for Open Educational Resources (Pressbooks)
- Code de bonnes pratiques en matière d’utilisation équitable des ressources éducatives libres (PDF)
- Code de bonnes pratiques en matière d’utilisation équitable des ressources éducatives libres (Pressbooks)
Navigating Copyright for Crown-Published Works
Access to government information is a foundational pillar of a working democracy. This access must not only be open, it must be perpetual. Libraries have assumed responsibility for the stewardship of both print and digital government publications, through their digitization and web harvesting programs.
For libraries to do this work, their staff must first navigate Crown copyright protections. This code of best practices provides a legal framework for these activities, alongside relevant background information. It also shares some illustrative examples that document current practices in use within the library community. Most of these case studies focus on long-standing access to government publications, based on the strength of risk assessments conducted by academic libraries.