One of these licensed databases is LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe. LEXIS-NEXIS is a powerful research tool that contains a wealth of databases, including news, business, legal research (cases, codes, law review articles and more), medical (full text medical journal articles) and reference.

If you wish to use an article in class that is contained in the LEXIS-NEXIS database or many of the other databases, the licensing agreement allows you to make copies of the article and distribute the article to your students. In the same vein, such an article could also be posted on Electronic Reserve.

Different databases have different terms, conditions and features. For example, JSTOR contains academic journals, (but not the most recent five years) and allows the faculty member to link directly to the article for educational purposes. Copyright notices must be maintained on any of the licensed materials.

As the terms and conditions vary, if you find an article you wish to use and have questions about what uses are permissible, please contact The Assistant Director for Public Services at the Library at ext. 6473 for assistance. ALADIN can also be accessed from off campus with the bar code on an updated library card.  For an article detailing how to use ALADIN, see the March 2001 archived article entitled CUA offers access to wealth of research services.

Reprinting of licensed materials has nothing to do with fair use or the public domain, but is instead based on the contract CUA has with the provider of the materials. If the article you wish to use is not in the licensed database, then you need to consider if the work is in the public domain, if use of the work would be a fair use, or if permission is necessary.




links updated 6/5/08 rab