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Copyright: Licensed Content for the Classroom

A guide to inform faculty and students about copyright, fair use, and more.

Locating Licensed and Open Access Content

Before you make an argument for fair use, we suggest exploring the Library Databases tab in this box. Here you will find information about how to locate licensed resources suitable for classroom and online teaching. Additionally, the Open Educational Resources tab provides access to freely available and modifiable materials without requiring permission.

Library Databases:

Foley Center Library's database content is licensed specifically for classroom instruction, research, and teaching. Notably, most of our databases provide permalinks, enabling you to incorporate articles, videos, and music directly into your Canvas courses.

persistent link, also known as a permalink, is an URL that connects directly to a specific full-text article in a library database or electronic journal subscription. When students click a permalink, they will need to log in with their Gonzaga username and password to access the linked content. 

Locating Content:

Use these resources to locate licensed library content:

Persistent Links:

If you copy a database link from your Internet browser into Canvas, that link will eventually stop working because it is a dynamic, non-static link. To eliminate this problem, most database companies now offer persistent links for their articles. Persistent links (also known as permalinks) are stable links that will consistently take students to a particular full-text article in a library database.

Note that to ensure access by off-campus users, all persistent links should include proxy information in the first segment of the URL:

https://gonzaga.idm.oclc.org/login?url=

For example, if you wanted to link to the following persistent URL (noted in bold) in Canvas, then it should look like this:

https://gonzaga.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=148736833&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Some databases include the proxy URL, others do not - so you may need to copy and paste the proxy URL in front of the persistent link. For additional information about permalinks and library resources, please see this guide

Need Help?

Your Liaison Librarian is a valuable resource for finding and utilizing library materials. They can provide expert assistance in locating articles in various databases, e-journals, and streaming video and audio resources.

Additionally, they can guide you on how to locate permalinks to library content which you can add to your Canvas course.

Finally, Gonzaga's Department of Instructional Delivery and Design can provide instructions on how to embed permalinks into your Canvas Course. 

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either in the public domain or have been released under an open license. This means that anyone can freely access, use, modify, and share the materials without having to pay for permission or credits. OERs can be used in a variety of settings, including universities and libraries.

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