Creative Commons

CC BY-NC license

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

SFU Archives provides access to many records in its holdings under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (CC BY-NC).

What does it mean?

The CC BY-NC license means that users are free to copy, share and adapt the materials as they like, provided they credit the copyright holder as the creator, indicate any changes they have made, and use the works for a non-commercial purpose. All requests for commercial use should be made in writing to SFU Archives (archives -at- sfu.ca).

When does it apply?

The Archives uses the CC BY-NC license for:

  • Copyright-protected materials owned by SFU.
  • Copyright-protected materials created by donors who transferred their copyright to SFU at the time of donation.
  • Copyright-protected materials created by donors who retained their copyright and agreed to license use of their materials under the Creative Commons terms and conditions.

When does SFU own copyright?

SFU generally owns copyright in records that were authored by SFU employees in the course of their employment activities. This does NOT include teaching and research materials created by faculty, staff and students, who retain copyright in those works.

What about non-SFU materials in the Archives?

Since around 2016, SFU Archives has encouraged donors to retain their own copyright while allowing its use under a CC license, and where this agreement is reached, it is documented in the Donation Agreement. Other CC licenses are possible, but NC-BY is the one preferred by the Archives. For older donations, donors sometimes transferred their copyright to SFU and in those cases, the Archives now uses the same CC license. In other cases, the donor retained copyright and the terms of use must be assessed case-by-case. Use under the fair dealing provisions of Canada's Copyright Act may apply.

For third-pary protected materials (i.e. copyright belongs to neither SFU nor the donor), see the note on mixed-ownership copyright.

How do I know if it a CC license applies?

Look at the description under the heading for Terms governing use, reproduction and publication. This will indicate if a CC license applies to material under description, and if so will (typically) provide a link to this page. The note may be applied at the Item level – or, more typically where the same terms apply to a larger set of items – at the parent File, Series, or Fonds level.


Page last updated: Jan 12, 2023