Frequently asked questions
We encourage professors to submit their coursepack requests by a certain date to ensure that we have adequate time to clear all copyrights and obtain any special permissions that may be required. Special permissions can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. Once this process is complete, there are several other important steps required in creating a coursepack. All requests received by the due date are guaranteed to be completed and at the Book Stop bookstore in time for the beginning of the term.
This does not mean that all requests submitted after the due date will be late getting on the shelves. We always do our best to complete coursepacks in time for classes, however, there is no ‘guarantee’ for coursepack requests that are submitted late.
We also work in date of order when we receive requests (this means a completed order form, table of contents and all material).
There are several important things we need to know before we can get started. Having you complete an order form ensures that we have all the information needed to create a coursepack exactly the way you want it. The Coursepack Request Form tells us whose name(s) should be on the front cover, what the title of the coursepack should be (usually, but not always, the name of the course), what the course code and section is, how many complimentary copies are needed (for the professor and T.A.(s)), where desk copies should be sent, how to contact you, and other helpful details.
The form must be completed even if you wish to order an exact reprint of a previous coursepack.
A ‘reprint’ is an exact reproduction of a coursepack used in a previous semester. Small changes can be made like dates and office hours on the syllabus and/or table of contents. However, a reprint essentially means that there will be no changes to the number of pages of the coursepack or the content.
A ‘partial reprint’ means that changes are being made to a previous coursepack (additions, deletions, and/or rearranging readings).
A new coursepack is simply a coursepack with all new material.
You do not need to re-submit any material that has been used in a previous coursepack. We have coursepacks dating back to 2008 on file and we can simply extract the necessary readings. We kindly ask that you advise us during which term the readings were used.
When ordering a partial reprint, you must submit the new readings only and an updated table of contents. Please note that indicating to us which readings from the previous coursepack are to be removed, and which readings are being added is extremely helpful to us and speeds up the process significantly.
A table of contents is required in your coursepack as per Quebec Copyright law. We are required by law to maintain strict compliance with the regulations set out by COPIBEC. COPIBEC is a non-profit organization which acts on behalf of rights holders (authors, publishers, etc.) to manage the reproduction rights of their copyrighted works and to ensure compensation to these individuals. We must report the use of all works included in coursepacks and therefore we require all the bibliographic information.
The formatting of your table of contents is at your discretion, however each citation must include the author’s name, work title, chapter title or number, the publisher and year of publication, and the page numbers you wish to include. * Always include the name or number of the chapter even if you are only using a part of it; simply including ‘excerpt’ is not acceptable.
Example:
Higonnet, Anne. “Chapter Two.” 31-49. Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood. New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1998.
Please note that although you may choose to include two or more consecutive chapters, the page ranges must be separated. Example:
Higonnet, Anne. “Chapter Two” and “Chapter Three” 31-49, 50-71. Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood. New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1998.
Yes. Copyrights must be cleared for each term, even for readings that were used before.
You are permitted to include up to 20% of books that fall under the COPIBEC license. If you exceed this amount, we can make a special request via COPIBEC in order to use the additional pages. If you wish to include a work that is not included in the license at all, we can contact the rights holder directly and request permission to include the reading. However, this can take time (up to several weeks) and will often result in additional copyright fees. If we come across any readings that we believe will significantly delay the production of the coursepack, we will contact you and discuss your options with you.
It is possible to create a coursepack with no copyright fees. However, having some fees is sometimes unavoidable. There is a charge of $0.12 for every page you include between 20% of a book and the maximum of 25%. Fees for using over 25% or for works that are not included in the license vary from work to work, publisher to publisher.
No, not everything on the Web is free to use or ‘public domain’. Articles or other content that you find on websites (online journals, magazines, blogs, etc.) are often subject to copyright by either the author or the owner of the website. Most sites have a Copyright Notice that specifies how the works on the site can and cannot be used. It is important to note that since we sell coursepacks in a bookstore, we are considered a commercial operation.
The rights holders must be contacted and must give us their permission if we are to include their work in a coursepack. As mentioned above, all special requests can take time and possibly result in additional copyright fees at the discretion of the copyright holder.
Since web content can be accessed by your students for free, we encourage professors to avoid using it in their coursepacks.
‘Public domain’ refers to works that are available for unrestricted copying by the general public without the need for explicit permission. Materials that are considered to be in the public domain include works whose copyright have expired, works that were created too early to have copyright protection, and works donated to the public by authors or artists. Remember: publishers hold copyright. Therefore, a 2010 publication of Shakespeare’s Hamlet would still require copyright permission from the rights holder (the publisher). Copyright has expired only on original editions of Shakespeare works, not more recent publications.
You can send PDFs of your material to coursepacks@concordia.ca.
Professors must supply all the material they wish to include.
An ePack is a digital version of the coursepack. When you fill out the Coursepack Order Form, you may indicate whether or not you would like to make an ePack available to your students so that they have the option of choosing the format they prefer.
Students can purchase their ePack access codes at the Book Stop bookstore and access it virtually anywhere with an internet connection using their log-in information and password.
Please note that ePacks cannot be printed.
When a coursepack is complete, we will email you to let you know that a copy is available for preview. You may drop by the Coursepack Office to pick up a copy and review it to ensure that everything is exactly the way you wanted it and that all special instructions (if any) have been followed.
Previewing the coursepack is optional. If you do not wish to preview the coursepack, we ask that you advise us in writing (via email or on the coursepack order form) so that we may go ahead and have the coursepack sent to the printers as soon as possible.
If you are unable to come in to preview the coursepack, you may send a proxy to look it over for you.
Contact us at coursepacks@concordia.ca to make arrangements.
We are not permitted to send electronic preview copies.
The purpose of the preview is to ensure that all text is legible, all necessary pages have been included according to the table of contents provided, and all special instructions have been followed. We can make small adjustments to improve legibility, and of course, if we have overlooked something, we will certainly fix it.
However, changes to the order of the readings or removing/adding readings are not permitted at this stage. If you have decided that there are additional readings you would like your students to read for their course, you may submit a request for a supplemental coursepack.
