Purdue Global holds an Annual Academic Copyright License (AACL) from Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). This license enables Purdue Global faculty and staff to reproduce and distribute legally obtained copyrighted content for educational and research purposes, in both print and digital form, across campus with the confidence that sharing is being done within copyright laws and Purdue Global guidelines.  The license grants permissions that are in addition to what is permitted under normal fair use exemptions.  

Some common uses covered by the license include:

• Posting PDF copies of articles in our course management system (ex: Course Documents area of any Brightspace classroom).
• Research collaboration (ex: sharing a folder of research articles via Google Drive for a project).
• E-mailing copies as attachments (ex: an e-mail to every student in your course with a PDF copy of an article attached).

In general, for course developers this means that any works covered by the CCC Academic License can be uploaded into our course management system (Brightspace).

Step 1: Visit CCC's RightFind Academic

Assessing if an article or book is covered by the annual academic license is easy. Simply go CCC's RightFind Academic tool and enter the publication title of the work (e.g.: book, journal, newspaper), ISBN/ISSN, or publisher of the title you wish to use. 

Step 2: Check coverage 

To check the coverage available for the publication you wish to use, look to the right side in the How can I use this copyrighted content? box to confirm whether the title is covered.  If it’s covered, there will be a green check mark next to Digital Sharing.  If it’s cleared, you are now free to use the content under the terms of the license.  Some publications may be okay to use, but have additional terms.  Click the "Terms" link if present to review the terms set by the publisher.