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Scanning and CLA requests

Digitise essential items for your module reading lists

The Library offers a digitisation service for academic staff, under the terms of the Coyright Licencing Agency (CLA) Higher Education Licence. This makes articles or book chapters owned by the University available online to students through reading lists and via Canvas.

To use this service, please ensure you have the full details of the items you are requesting e.g. name of chapter/journal article, name of book/journal, author, volume/issues, pages.

There are instructions on the reading list guide which covers how to log in and access your list.

Once you have added the bibliographic details onto your list then you need tag the item with 'Requires CLA scanning'. The request will then be processed by the CLA digitisation team who will make the digitised scan available on the reading list.

Unless there is an issue with the request, you will not receive any additional contact from the Library. You will know your request has been successful as the link will be live and accessible.

What can be scanned?

Under the terms of the CLA licence, the following must apply:

  • the original text must be owned by the University (this could be the Library or your School, but please note personal copies are not included). The Library can also sometimes obtain copyright cleared articles or book chapters not owned by the University from the British Library
  • publisher is not on the CLA excluded works list
  • item is not already available electronically
  • item is only made available to the students on a specific module via Canvas or the Medical VLE. The digitised scan will automatically be added to the reading list once it is available
  • textbook substitution must be avoided - this would occur if a particular combination of photocopies and/or digital copies made available through a course pack had an adverse impact on a student's decision to buy one or more textbooks for their course. This would be in conflict with the principles of non-substitution set out in the Licence
  • to ensure you are meeting the requirements of the CLA licence, see the CLA Good Practice Guide

Limits

The same limits apply to scanning as for photocopying:

  • up to 10% or one chapter of a book (whichever is greater)
  • up to 10% or one article of a single journal issue (whichever is greater)
  • up to 10% or one paper from a conference proceeding (whichever is greater)

How long will this process take?

Requests should be submitted at least two weeks before the item is required for teaching. The Library will process each request as soon as possible, but this can take longer at the start of each semester due to the increased demand. If there is a problem with your request you will be sent an email. Otherwise the digitised scan will be accessible for both you and your students within the reading list on Canvas.

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