Collective licences are a valuable supplement to your organisation's database licences and other content acquisition arrangements.
Collective licenses
Collective licenses are offered by various organisations for differing types of content, including:
Your institution is likely to hold one or more collective licenses. Consult your institution’s library or learning centre for more information. The rest of this webpage deals exclusively with the Copyright Licensing NZ (CLNZ) license.
What is the CLNZ license?
The CLNZ license covers material that originated in print, although it may include scanned copies of printed material, and is mainly concerned with sharing of material with students. Material covered by the license can be shared by hardcopy, electronic white board, email, and password-protected websites that only staff have access to, like Intranets, LMS websites, etc. Our license offers significant benefits to staff and students at license-holding institutions. To learn more about the license visit our main website.
It greatly simplifies the copyright compliance obligations placed on teaching staff and, indirectly, the enforcement obligations placed on management staff. In the absence of the license, staff would be obliged to contact each copyright owner individually to obtain permission to reuse material. Instead, the license provides blanket permission to reuse printed material from a wide range of sources. There’s no need to change course materials because teaching staff can’t get permission from a copyright owner to use material, no need to manage complicated licenses for individual items, no need to regularly update time-limited licenses, and no need to budget for wide variation in license fees.
License holders are indemnified against legal action by copyright owners of material covered by our license. We also support our licenseholders internal copyright risk management and compliance efforts through our freely-available copyright e-learning modules and knowledge bases.
Our popular copyright e-learning modules are directed at staff within institutions, and are useful in copyright education, staff induction, and risk management scenarios. The modules require 30 to 45 minutes to complete, and can be embedded in institutions’ own SCORM-compliant learning management systems. Return to the CLNZ website to access the e-learning modules.
The knowledge bases are intended to provide a comprehensive, accessible source of information on copyright law. Questions received through the help-desk function (at the top right of each knowledge base webpage) will receive a response within one working day in normal circumstances.
License fees also help CLNZ to fund authors and publishers to continue to produce information used by institutions to teach students. Many of the authors and publishers supported by us are located in New Zealand, and some may be employed by license-holding organisations.
Exact copying
Generally there is a requirement to ensure that copies made under a collective licence are exact copies. For example, the CLNZ licence requires copied material to be a “reasonably accurate copy of the original, which preserves the structure, layout, authenticity and integrity of the original”. However, interleaving or interspersing comments or additional material for teaching purposes is permitted as long as bibliographical details are provided with the material copied.
How do I know what material is included in the licence?
Your CLNZ licence covers a wide range of material that originates from printed copies of books, textbooks, journals, periodicals. Some licences also include newspaper articles--check your licence to see whether this material is included, and if you're unsure contact CLNZ for help.
Our licences only cover material that originates from printed copies--sometimes called hard copies. However it's important to remember that even if the material originated from a print version, if the printed version is scanned and converted into a digital copy (like a PDF) then it will still be covered by the CLNZ license.
Sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether a scanned digital copy originated from a printed version, although in most cases the copy's layout will be indicative of its origin. If you're unsure then you could look at factors like the digital copy's citation metadata, information provided in the course pack, similarities with a printed copy in your library, etc. You're also welcome to contact CLNZ; we may be able to assist.
There’s just one exception to the rule that the licence only applies to material that originates from printed copies: if your licence includes newspapers then both print and digital sources are included within the licence.
Warning notices
All material distributed to students under collective licences must include an appropriate warning notice for students about their responsibilities when using such materials. For example, the CLNZ licence warning notice states:
This material is protected by copyright and has been copied by and solely for the educational purposes of [institution] under licence. You may not sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of this coursepack/material to any other person. Where provided to you in electronic format, you may only print from it for your own private study and research. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action by [institution].