CLA Data Collection Exercise – Monday 17th September 2018 to Friday 26th October 2018
Beginning on Monday 17th September there will be a collection of royalties data, conducted by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), for thirty working days until Friday 26th October. The CLA will be setting up collection points at MFDs in departments across the University. The collection works on a catch-all basis to make things easier for those involved.
The exercise relates to the use of published material which is being photocopied or re-used by Aberystwyth University staff in support of their teaching under the terms of our copyright licence. The co-operation and compliance of all University staff with all elements of this exercise is requested in order to fully assist the CLA with their royalty distributions.
This is not an audit. Data collected helps to facilitate royalty payments to rights holders. The licence fee paid by the University is held by the CLA until indications of copying, or re-use, enable appropriate payments to be made to the rights holders. A fair balance in the world of intellectual property is important because the rights’ holders need users as much as users need the creators of copyright works. This exercise helps to complete the cycle and reward the authors, publishers and visual creators accordingly.
If you are photocopying from books, journals, magazines or any other printed resource which includes copyright content please take a few moments to read the red instruction poster located by relevant copiers. All that is required is a single copy of the identifying page of the publication (usually the title page) including the ISBN/ISSN, where available. Please affix a CLA data label to the copy, indicate quantities and place it in the yellow box.
If you are copying a course pack which contains material from a copyrighted course, then a full copy of the entire course pack should be placed in the CLA data box.
What do I need to do for the royalties data collection?
On Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th September, the CLA Royalties Officer will set up a yellow box next to all relevant MFDs, along with instruction posters and adhesive data labels. During the collection, whenever you copy from a published source (original or copy of a copy) you are required to let the CLA know. This is done by taking a copy of the identifier page – ideally that is the page with the ISBN/ISSN on it, or the front cover with title, author and publisher details – fill in a date label, fix it to the identifier page and then simply post the identifier page into the collection box.
What if a publication doesn’t have an ISBN/ISSN?
If there is no clear identifier page you can simply write the name and any other details on the sheet you are copying from. The more detail you can give, the better so the CLA can identify the source, even if copying from another photocopy. The CLA also have a number of tools which can help to identify a publication so it’s still important to include data from unknown sources.
Why does CLA need this information?
Most of the revenue the CLA get from licence holders is redistributed as royalty payments. Only by collecting data can they ascertain whose work is being copied and how much the rights’ holders should be paid. Academic staff often publish material so, potentially, you could be helping higher education colleagues as well as authors and publishers outside the sector.
Are there any cost implications for my department?
No; there are no penalties for high volume copying of copyright material though it’s important to be aware of what the licence allows you to copy legitimately. Details can be found at https://cla.co.uk/higher-education-licence-docs .
I seldom photocopy published material - do I really need to take part?
Yes. During the exercise even if you copy something just once you still need to let the CLA know. A one-off copying event may seem inconsequential but when aggregated with data from other institutions or sectors, its value can become very significant.
All my print copies come from digital material – do I need to include it?
Once a paper printout has been made under the CLA licence, it is subject to the same terms and conditions as a photocopy and should be recorded as such as part of the data collection exercise.
Why is open access and crown copyright content included?
Whilst usually beyond the scope of the CLA licence, there are occasions when they are able to make a distribution [payment] for these types of content. Rather than ask colleagues to check qualifying criteria it is easier to include all relevant material and anything which is not payable will simply be filtered out when the data is processed.
Are exam papers which include copyright extracts collected?
Copying of papers for examination use are excluded. However, if any other use is involved, for example using a paper after the examination in a lecture or course pack, it will need to be included in the collection.