Questions & Answers on Copyright for the Campus Community

Obtaining Permission to Copy
Publisher contact information for clearing permissions is available on the Association of American Publishers website at http://www.publishers.org/about/rpacurls.cfm and the Association of American University Presses web site at www.aaupnet.org/membership/directory.html. In addition, online permission is available for some materials from the Copyright Clearance Center’s web site, www.copyright.com.
  1. Request permission before or at the same time you order textbooks.
    The earlier your request is received the better, in case it cannot be granted and you need to substitute other materials. Publishers do not always control the rights and need time to research the extent to which permission may be granted or to refer you to the correct copyright owner. Each request requires a careful check of the status of the copyright, a determination of the exact materials to be duplicated (which sometimes involves ordering a copy of the material from a warehouse). In other words, the greater the lead time you give the copyright owner to respond to your request, the more likely it is that you will get the permission you seek in a timely fashion.


  2. Individual requests may be directed to the publisher's Rights and Permissions Department.
    The page containing the copyright notice shows who owns the copyright, the year of publication, and the publisher’s name. The acknowledgment page may also contain information regarding copyright ownership. If the rights are held by the author or another publisher, you will be referred to the correct copyright owner. If the address of the publisher does not appear with the material, it may be obtained from a variety of resources such as the National Association of College Stores' Book Buyers’ Manual; the American Booksellers Association’s Publishers Directory; the Association of American University Presses Directory (available from the University of Chicago Press); Books in Print; The Literary Marketplace (for books); The International Literary Marketplace (for international listings); or Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory (for journals), published by R.R. Bowker Co., and available in any library. Your college store also has access to a few of these and similar resources. The Software & Information Industry Association includes a directory of software publishers on its home page (www.siia.net). The Authors Registry can help you find specific authors. The Authors Registry can be reached at www.authorsregistry.org or by writing to Authors Registry, 31 East 28th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10016.

    Some publishers and copyright owners have registered their titles with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a non-for-profit clearinghouse for clearing permissions for over 1.75 million titles. The CCC offers an online service for clearing permission for analog and e-coursepacks at www.copyright.com. The CCC can also be reached by writing to 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923.


  3. Include all of the following information in your request:
    1. Author's, editor's, translator's full name(s);
    2. Title, edition, and volume number of book, journal, or other material;
    3. Copyright date;
    4. ISBN for books, ISSN for magazines and journals;
    5. Numbers of the exact pages, figures, and illustrations;
    6. If you are requesting a chapter or more: both exact chapter(s) and exact page numbers;
    7. Number of copies to be made;
    8. Whether material will be used alone or combined with other photocopied materials;
    9. Name of your college or university;
    10. Course name and number;
    11. Semester and year in which material will be used; and
    12. Instructor's full name.

Introduction | Q&A Concerning Copying Print and Digital Works | Obtaining Permission to Copy
Obtaining Electronic Formats From Publishers | Guidelines for Classroom Copying
Details on Kinko's and Michigan Document Services Cases | Credits