Coursepacks are print or digital compilations of copyright-cleared materials that replace or supplement a course textbook.

Why create a coursepack?

You may need your students to read a copyrighted journal article, a chapter from a book, and two chapters from another text. Just putting these resources in your course would likely be a violation of copyright (unless the quantity and substance of the resources is in line with Fair Use guidelines). Buying these three resources separately may not be the best solution because:

• buying a book and only using a few pages of it would not be cost-effective
• buying a single-license article would not allow you to share it with your students.

Copyright Clearing House

In comes a copyright clearing house (CCH).

• A CCH will reach out directly to the copyright owners of the three resources you need and request permission to share these resources with your specific number of students, for the duration of the semester. In some cases permission will not be granted (e.g., brand new publication or selection is not fair-use compliant).
• The CCH also requests a quote on what the copyright owner would charge to give your students permission to access these resources as specified. Usually the cost of clearing copyright for a portion of a text will be significantly lower than the cost of purchasing the entire text, thus offering the targeted value to students at a lower price.
• In addition, the CCH digitizes your resources, creating a professional looking PDF file (no crooked pages, dark copier marks, etc.). Then they put all your PDFs in a digital binder or course pack.
• Once you agree to the cost, the coursepack is created and you are given instructions to deliver to your students as to how they can purchase the coursepack in print, digital, or print & digital format.

How to get started?

If you find that a course pack fits your textbook supplement/replacement needs, reach out to me and I’ll advise you what needs to be done. One tip I give everyone is to start this process early, ideally 3 months before the day your students will need to access the coursepack.