More information about electronic course materials

What is the electronic course materials service (ECMS)?

The electronic course materials service (ECMS) is the University's official repository for all digitized text-based copyright materials required for student course work.

It provides a centralised service for the submission, processing, production and copyright management of all readings from books and journals, to be made available online in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Submitted materials will be made available via the Library's website. You can also link to unit material from your LMS unit, or a local website.

You are not required to include non-copyright material such as lecture notes, solutions to assignments and exercises and other administrative materials relating to your unit. This material can continue to be housed on unit web sites.

Are there any special format requirements for the submission of materials?

The preferred text format is PDF.

If you are unable to supply an electronic copy of the material, you can provide a photocopy. However this may take up to 10 working days for the material to be available. Please note if the material is held in print in the library you do not need to provide copies.

Photocopies should be:

  • Good quality copies of original items suitable for scanning.
  • Single sided copies.
  • Same orientation for all pages (portrait or landscape).
  • Square on the page with a margin of at least 2 cm.
  • Without black edges or shadows.

Copies unsuitable for scanning will be returned to you for replacement.

Please supply full citation details for all submitted items.

How long will it be before the materials are available to students?

We will endeavour to process your request as quickly as possible. If you submit your materials as an electronic copy, this will enable quicker processing. If you provide us with print copy that needs to be scanned, it may take up to 10 working days.

Can I scan my own materials and store them on my faculty or school server?

No. All copyright materials intended to be made available online for courses must be processed through the electronic course materials service. All readings will include a copyright notice as required by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), and authorised access will be restricted to students and staff of the University. If you have negotiated special conditions for access to any material please discuss this with the relevant library staff.

How much can I copy or scan under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)?

The reproduction of copyright material for educational purposes is governed by the statutory licence provision set out in Part VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). This allows the University to make multiple copies of material for student course work in return for a royalty payment.

The Act specifies that a 'reasonable portion' of a copyright work or periodical publication can be copied or communicated for educational purposes.

For print-to-digital copies, a 'reasonable portion' of a work (other than journal articles) is defined as:

  • 10% of the number of pages in a work or one chapter, which ever is greater;
  • more than the above limit can be copied if the work is out of print. Library staff will assist you in determining this;
  • the whole or part of a literary or dramatic work in a published anthology if not more than 15 pages;
  • 10% of a piece of notated music;
  • an artistic work if it is not separately published or is unobtainable in a reasonable time;
  • an artistic work which accompanies a literary or dramatic work for the purpose of explaining or illustrating text that is already being copied under the licence.

For digital-to-digital copies, a 'reasonable portion' of a work (other than journal articles) is defined as:

  • 10% of the number of words in a work or, if the work is divided into chapters, one chapter;
  • 10% of a piece of notated music;
  • more than 10% of an electronic literary, dramatic, or musical work can be copied if the work is not available in electronic form within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price;
  • the whole of an artistic work may be copied from the Internet and communicated via the electronic course materials service (ECMS) without any requirement to confirm its availability or cost.
  • Please note: these provisions may be overridden by contract or subscription terms of use.

For journal publications the following can be copied or scanned:

  • one article per issue of a journal publication (whether copied in hard copy or digital format).
  • two or more articles can be copied from the same issue of a journal provided they relate to the same specific subject matter.

It should be noted that the right to reproduce and communicate electronic material may be limited if the Library or University has signed a licence agreement specifying stricter limitations on copying and stricter conditions of access. On the other hand licence conditions may allow us to reproduce more than the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) permits. Library staff will provide advice on licence conditions governing the various full-text databases to which the Library subscribes.

All requests to scan and communicate materials will be checked for copyright compliance. You will be notified if your request is deemed to infringe copyright, and the Library staff will suggest alternative access methods to meet the information needs of your students.

More information about copyright.

What is the limit on the amount of material which can be communicated via the University network?

The terms of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and the remuneration agreement with the collecting society mean there are strict limits on the amount of material which can be made available online. In the case of a published book (either print or electronic format) no more than 10%, or one chapter, of the work can be communicated across the entire University at any one time.

For example, if a lecturer has copied a chapter of Patrick White's Voss, and made this available online, no other lecturer in the University can make another part of the same work available online in reliance on the Part VB licence until this first part is taken down. Failure to comply with this limit will result in loss of the licence for the second (and subsequent) portions of a work made available online.

Note that:

  • More than one chapter or 10% of a separately published work may be communicated if the work is out of print. Library staff will assist you in determining this.
  • The limits to online communication of journal articles apply to individual units, not to the entire University. One article from any issue of a periodical can be communicated per unit.
  • Two or more articles from any one issue of a journal may be communicated per unit if they are on the same specific subject
  • Licence agreements entered into by the University may affect the amount of material which can be copied and communicated. Library staff will assist in interpreting the various licence agreements for full-text products.

All requests to communicate materials will be checked for copyright compliance. You will be notified if your request is deemed to infringe copyright, and the Library staff will suggest alternative access methods to meet the information needs of your students.

What happens if the material I wish to make available online exceeds the limits?

There may be situations where the material you wish to copy and communicate exceeds the limits set down by the Copyright Act. There will also be situations where you may find that another member of staff has already arranged for a chapter of a book to be made available online, thus blocking you from making further chapters of that work available online.
In these situations Library staff will discuss a range of options with you.

Can I link to library resources from my course web site without using the electronic course materials service?

Linking to database materials available via the Murdoch University Library website will not be done via the electronic course materials service. Please link straight to database materials from your LMS unit page or web page. 
Follow these instructions to create persistent links to articles in databases, or consult your Subject Librarian for further information.

How do I link to electronic course materials from my unit web site?

A link to unit material in Reserve, including electronic material, will appear in students’ My Units page.