Copyright and Fair Use: Home

The Libraries are available to assist you with determining whether you need to secure copyright clearance, and, if you do, with requesting permission to share. You should request copyright clearance for your materials at least one month in advance.  

Please contact Marina Zilberman, Chief Librarian via email: marina.zilberman@touro.edu; or phone: 212-463-0400, x.55221, with the following information:

• Author of the article, chapter, or book
• Title of the article, chapter, or book
• Title of the journal (if using an article) or book (if using a chapter), along with volume, year, and page numbers, if applicable
• ISBN/ISSN of the publication (usually a string of 10 or 13 numbers)
• Your contact information

Copyright is a form of protection provided by US laws to creators of content, or those who generate “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished; in print, electronic, online, or any other format. Copyright exists to foster creativity, giving certain exclusive rights to writers, musicians, artists, and other types of creators, the exclusive rights to their works.

When shifting your class from in-person to online, copyright needs to be considered — but the good news is that most of the rules that apply to in-person teaching at Touro also apply online. Some quick tips:

• When showing videos in class, limit yourself to brief clips and encourage students to access longer videos outside of class through the library or other legal sources.
• Control access to your online documents by using Canvas instead of emailing students. If you need to share resources outside of Canvas, link to the original source, rather than making a copy or attaching a document.
• If you are unsure whether your use is a legal one, ask the Libraries for help!

For more information, please visit:

“Rapidly shifting your course from in-person to online” from the University of Minnesota Libraries

Fair use is an important part of U.S. copyright law as it provides a means of balancing users’ needs against the exclusive rights of copyright holders. Fair use is not a straightforward concept, rather, any fair use analysis must be conducted on a case by case basis, considering factors and the individual circumstances at hand; it does not guarantee against a claim of copyright infringement.

The Four Factors Determining Fair Use: