Fair Use Guidelines as Applied to
Copying for the Classroom

As a faculty member, you may be interested in making copies of certain materials for your students in the classroom. The books, articles, software, paintings, musical scores, recordings, poems, films, pamphlets, graphics, web pages, television or radio programs that you may wish to use are all the property of the people who created them. Unless the copying falls within the Fair Use Guidelines outlined on this Web page, permission to copy any of the above must be received in writing before the item may be copied.

It is legal for you to make multiple copies of such materials for classroom use, without the author's or publisher's permission, if you meet the three standards of Fair Use:

• Brevity
• Spontaneity
• Cumulative Effect

If your intended use does not meet these criteria, this doesn't mean you can't use the material. It simply means you are legally required to get permission first.

This web page will help you understand the concepts of brevity, spontaneity, and cumulative use and help you stay within the law.

Keep in mind that you are responsible for meeting the guidelines. The legal responsibility generally rests with the person using the material, not with the institution in which the copying takes place.

Brevity

In order for you to legally make multiple copies of print materials for classroom use, the item has to meet the guidelines for brevity:

• Poetry
• You may reproduce a complete poem if less than 250 words and if printed on not more than two pages; OR from a longer poem you can reproduce an excerpt of not more than 250 words. If you want to reproduce longer poems or poem segments you need the author's or publisher's permission.
• Prose
• Reproducing an excerpt of less than 500 words does not require permission. You may also legally reproduce a complete article, story, or essay of less than 2500 words; OR an excerpt from any prose work which does not exceed 1,000 words or 10% of the entire work, whichever is less. If you want to reproduce a longer article or segment you need the author's or publisher's permission.
• Illustrations
• You may reproduce one chart, graph, diagram, drawing, cartoon or picture from a particular book or periodical issue. If you want to take more than that from one publication, you need permission.
• Special works
• Special works are those that combine language and illustrations, for example children's books or books intended for adults, but in a format similar to children's books. Even if the length of such a work would meet the above guidelines for poetry or prose, you can't reproduce the work in its entirety. You may reproduce an excerpt of not more than two of the published pages containing not more than 10% of the words of the entire text. If you want to reproduce the whole work or a larger segment, you need the author's permission.

Spontaneity

In order to legally make multiple copies of print materials for classroom use, the item has to meet the guidelines for spontaneity. Reproduction of an item is considered spontaneous if:

• It is at the instance and inspiration of the individual teacher.
• It would be unreasonable to expect a timely reply to a request for permission.

For example, suppose you find a very germane article two days before you are scheduled to teach a particular topic. Copying the article in this instance would likely meet the standard for spontaneity because there is not reasonable time to get permission. Keep in mind that the copying must also meet the standard for brevity and the standard for cumulative effect.

However, if you are a part of a group of faculty who are teaching sections of the same class and you decide six weeks ahead of time that all students should read a certain article, you would need to get permission for such use. This use is not considered spontaneous.