Copyright in Library databases and eBooks

The University purchases the right to use material in electronic databases and e-books. These individual licenses determine how they can be used.

Best practice is to provide links to students to avoid any copyright or license issues.

If you need to copy material from library databases or eBooks, you must check the “terms of use” via the library catalogue Te Waharoa. Some licences do not permit copies this material to be made and distributed to students.

Search for the title and the license details can be found by looking at the full record. Contact library@vuw.ac.nz if you need help.

If the terms do not allow for inclusion in print course packs, provide a link to students who can access and print their own copy.

Intellectual Property Policy

Victoria University of Wellington's current Intellectual Property Policy covers ownership of intellectual property (including copyright) for work created at the University.

Note that there are different intellectual property provisions for academic and professional staff. In general, all IP created by professional staff in the course of their work at the University is the property of the University.

The following advice is generally for academic staff and students.

Understanding copyright on your work

Although you own the copyright in the work you create in the first instance, you can transfer it to someone else. If you publish your work, what rights you have to use your work will depend on what you agree with the publisher.

Publication agreement

When signing a publication agreement you may wish to consider if you would still like to be able to use your copyright material for teaching, in a thesis, or to distribute to colleagues and then ensure that the agreement allows this (as it’s not always the case).

You may also want to pay attention to what version of your work you are allowed to use, as this may not be the published version.

Academic publishing

For further information on legal terms in academic publishing you may wish to refer to the Colombia law school webpage for academic publishing Keep your copyrights or The Copyright Toolkit for Academic Authors pdf 1.3MB (provided as an Appendix to Understanding Open Access in an Academic Environment published by Queensland University of Technology).

This provides a useful resource and can help you to determine the best way to retain the rights to use your own work as necessary.