Photocopying of library materials should comply with the provisions of the Singapore Copyright Act (Chapter 63). Photocopying and reproducing from books, journals, periodicals, etc constitute infringements of copyright unless the acts fall within the exceptions.
The valid exceptions are those related to research and study purposes and are explained below.
Research and Private Study
There is a fair dealing exception for personal research and private study. As a quantitative guideline, it allows copying of
- ONE copy of an article from a periodical, OR ONE copy of 2 or more articles on the same subject-matter from that periodical,
- ONE copy of not more than 10% of the total number of pages of a published work (if the work contains more than 10 pages), OR ONE copy of one chapter of the published work even if one chapter exceeds 10% of the total number of pages.
The exception stated above does not apply to commercial and industrial research.
Teaching
For the purpose of teaching a course provided by NTU, teaching staff can make copies of 5 pages of a work (excluding articles) but if 1% of the total number of pages of the work exceeds 5 pages, the number of pages copied must not exceed 5% of the total number of pages. Work here includes charts, diagrams, etc. which are used to explain the work.
The pre-conditions are that the photocopying has to be done for a course of study provided by the University on the University's premises and there has to be a 14-day time gap between each occasion for making the copies from the same book.
General
Staff who wish to reproduce a work beyond the exceptions allowed by the Copyright Act, are to get permission from the publishers and/or authors or the respective authors' or publishers' assocations or pay the requisite royalties to them.
Further, a staff should not request students to make copies of articles or parts of a work in excess of the limits stated under the heading Research and Private Study as that could be construed as authorizing the students to infringe copyright. Students should be asked to refer to books or articles which can be made available in the Library.
Please be warned that if your copying exceed the limits allowed under the Copyright Act, the University will not be liable for any infringement of copyright action which may be taken against you. In that event, you will be personally liable.
