Office Library Hours
Monday-Friday……………………….. 9:00 AM – 15:00 PM (CEST)
Saturday-Sunday……………………… Closed

Reference and Research Assistance
Please use the contact form if you have any questions.
Email address: [email protected]
Phone: +4322588727137

Interlibrary Loan
The Library provides Interlibrary Loan through an agreement with the Academic Libraries of Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. If you find an article you need but cannot get the full text from the index, contact us by filling out the contact form or sending an email to [email protected].

Copyright
Copyright: “the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 70 years after his or her death” (Source: Dictionary.com).

Intellectual property: “property that results from original creative thought, as patents, copyright material, and trademarks” (Source: Dictionary.com).

Copyright provides the exclusive right to authors to control the use of their work (reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly) and its benefits. A copyright can be sold or given to someone else, who becomes the owner of the copyright. There is an exception to the copyright law: fair use.

Fair use: “reasonable and limited use of copyrighted material so as not to infringe upon copyright” (Source: Dictionary.com). Fair use allows the use of portions of copyrighted material without permission from the owner for purposes such as criticism, parody, news reporting, research and scholarship, and teaching. To determine whether the use of a particular work is fair use, consider the following four factors:

  • the purpose and character of your use
  • the nature of the copyrighted work
  • the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work
  • the effect of the use upon the potential market

There is a common misconception that any and all copyrighted material that is used for educational purposes of any kind falls under fair use. Our recommendations would be to avoid scanning, redistributing, sharing, or posting full-text publications without permission. Please find more information about copyright law to understand the potential consequences of misuse of someone’s intellectual property and copyrighted material below.

For More Information
Copyright Clearance Center: Copyright.com
For licensing and permission
ARL Code of Best Practices in Fair Use
From Association of Research Libraries
US Copyright Office: Fair Use
Understanding fair use
Checklist, Columbia University Libraries
Determine whether your intended use might be considered fair use.