What is an ISBN?

From isbn.org:

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a 10 or 13 digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally.  On newer titles, they are often the barcode on the cover. Newer ISBNs start with '978'.

For more detailed information, see isbn.org.

Applying for an ISBN (materials published by SFU):

The SFU Library supplies ISBNs for materials published by SFU. Contact us at libadmin@sfu.ca for more information and/or to get an ISBN.

An ISSN is an identification number for serial publications including journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Here is the definition from the National Library of Canada: The International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an internationally recognized identification number for serial publications. An ISSN is an eight-digit standard number that, once assigned, becomes a permanent attribute of the individual serial for as long as it is issued under a given title. Each time the title of a serial is changed, a new ISSN must be assigned. ISSN must never be reused for new or changed serial titles.

ISSN are assigned by national and regional centres of the international ISSN Network. This system of international coordination ensures that each ISSN is unique to one serial publication.

What is a SFU computing ID?

This is the user name and password used to access SFU campus systems such as email.

Your user name is the first part of your email address, without the "@sfu".
Your password is the password you have chosen.

For example:

• SFU Computing ID and email address: jsung@sfu.ca
• User name:  jsung
• Password:  [your chosen password]

How do I get a computing ID?

If you are a current faculty member, staff, or registered student (including distance), you are eligible for a computing ID.

Alumni can visit About Alumni Email Forwarding to (re)activate their SFU Computing ID.

FIC (Fraser International College) students can set up their accounts through FIC.

External borrowers, non-credit students, IB students, and visiting scholars are not eligible.

See Computing IDs at SFU for more information.

What library services does the SFU Computing ID help me get?

The SFU Computing ID is used to:

• log in to computers in the library
• access licensed library resources from off-campus
  • you must first be signed into SFU’s Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system in order to log in.
• login to the SFU Library Catalogue
• connect with the SFU wireless internet network.

A person who does something with a copyright protected work that only the copyright owner is entitled to do, and does so without the permission of the copyright owner, infringes copyright and can be held liable. Either civil or criminal penalties can be imposed for copyright infringement. Criminal penalties can include fines and/or imprisonment and depend on the seriousness of the infringement. While criminal penalties are usually reserved for those engaged in piracy for profit, civil penalties, including an order to pay damages or an injunction to cease infringing, can be imposed for other types of infringement. Monetary damages could be awarded to the copyright owner for loss of income caused by the infringement or for other losses. Statutory damages for all infringements for all works involved are limited to $5,000 if the infringements are for a non-commercial purpose, or $20,000 for all infringements of each work involved when the infringements are for a commercial purpose. 

Generally, the person who actually infringes the rights of the copyright owner will be held liable for the infringement. In the absence of the fair dealing exception or a license, a student, staff member or faculty member who copies a copyright protected work (e.g., scans a book, photocopies an article) without permission will be held liable for that infringement. Staff sometimes copy materials at the request of others (e.g., a faculty member or a student). In that case, both the person who actually infringes copyright (the staff member) and the person who requested the staff member to so infringe (the faculty member or the student) can be held liable for the infringement. In addition, you may place liability on the University if as an employee you copy works in an infringing manner in the course of your employment. Employees are responsible for following all University policies.

In addition to potential liability, staff at the University Libraries, Archives, Bookstore, Centre for Educational Excellence, Communications and Marketing and Document Solutions have a professional responsibility to respect copyright law and may refuse to copy or print something if it is thought to be an infringement of copyright law.

Copyright is a set of rights relating to the reproduction of works. Works include text, art, music, dramatic works and computer programs, as well as sound recordings, performances and communication signals.

Only the copyright holder can copy a work (or perform related actions including broadcasting, publishing, adapting or translating a work), or authorize others to do these things. The copyright holder is often the creator (e.g. author, artist, musician). However, copyright can be transferred, for example to a publisher, or held by someone else, such as an employer in the case of works created during employment.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property and is governed in Canada by the Copyright Act. The Copyright Act is intended to balance the protection of creators' and copyright holders' economic and moral rights with the right of users to use works for public benefit and to further creative endeavour.

In Canada, copyright protection happens automatically when a work is created, as long as the work is original, fixed (in a physical form) and created in Canada or in a country that is a member of the Berne Convention, Universal Copyright Convention or World Trade Organization (these three conventions cover almost every country in the world).

In Canada, there is no requirement that a work be registered or that the word "copyright," or the symbol ©, appear on the work. However, it is a good idea to use the universal symbol © on any works you create, as it serves as a reminder to others that the work is protected. Other countries may have different requirements and offer different protections from those in Canada.

Fair dealing is a user’s right in copyright law permitting use of, or “dealing” with, a copyright protected work without permission or payment of copyright royalties. The fair dealing exception in the Copyright Act allows you to use other people’s copyright protected material for the purpose of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review or news reporting, provided that what you do with the work is ‘fair’. If your purpose is criticism, review or news reporting, you must also mention the source and author of the work for it to be fair dealing.

SFU has a Fair Dealing Policy which lays out how much you can copy for purposes of education, research and private study.

Whether something is ‘fair’ will depend on the circumstances. Courts will normally consider factors such as:

• The purpose of the dealing (Is it commercial or research / educational?)
• The character of the dealing (What was done with the work? Was it an isolated use or an ongoing, repetitive use? How widely was it distributed?)
• The amount of the dealing (How much was copied?)
• Alternatives to the dealing (Was the work necessary for the end result? Could a different work have been used instead?)
• The nature of the work (Is there a public interest in its dissemination? Was it previously unpublished?)
• The effect of the dealing on the original work (Does the use compete with the market of the original work?)

It is not necessary that your use satisfy every one of these factors in order to be fair, and no one factor is determinative by itself. In assessing whether your use is fair, a court would look at the factors as a whole to determine if, on balance, your use is fair.  

If, having taken into account these considerations, the use can be characterized as ‘fair’ and it was for the purpose of research, private study, education, satire, parody, criticism, review or news reporting, then it is likely to fall within the fair dealing exception and will not require permission from the copyright owner. In addition, if your purpose is criticism, review or news reporting you must also mention the source and author of the work. For further clarity and additional information about limits on the amount and nature of copying permitted under fair dealing in certain contexts, please see the Application of Fair Dealing under Policy R30.04. The application of these limits to teaching at SFU is outlined in the top section of the Copyright and Teaching infographic.

Please note as well; it is important to distinguish "fair dealing" from "fair use." The fair use exception in U.S. copyright law is NOT the equivalent of fair dealing in Canadian law. The wording of the two exceptions is different. It is important to make sure that you consider the Canadian law and are not relying on U.S. information, which has no jurisdiction in Canada.

Intellectual property (IP) protects the intangible or intellectual nature of a work and is the legal rights that result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. For example, copyright protects many types of works and only the copyright owner has the right to reproduce an entire work or a substantial part of it. Intellectual property (IP) includes:

• Copyright
• Patents (inventions)
• Trade-marks (logos, words, symbols)
• Industrial designs (“pretty” shapes or designs of useful items)
• Confidential information and trade secrets (ideas, concepts, facts)
• Integrated circuit topography (microchips)

The publisher Springer makes available for purchase to individual end-users for personal use only, a print on demand copy of Springer ebooks in a black-and-white softcover version under the MyCopy program.

MyCopy purchases are for individual use only. SFU Library patrons may purchase a MyCopy version of a SpringerLink ebook at their own discretion.

Please read the FAQs provided by Springer when you click on the "Buy a Print Copy of this Book for $24.95 Including Shipping" link above the ebook's Table of Contents.

For further details, you can review the MyCopy webpage from Springer.

Peer-reviewed (or refereed) journals

Peer-reviewed or refereed journals have an editorial board of subject experts who review and evaluate submitted articles before accepting them for publication. A journal may be a scholarly journal but not a peer-reviewed journal.

Peer review (or referee) process

• An editorial board asks subject experts to review and evaluate submitted articles before accepting them for publication in a scholarly journal.
• Submissions are evaluated using criteria including the excellence, novelty and significance of the research or ideas.
• Scholarly journals use this process to protect and maintain the quality of material they publish.
• Members of the editorial board are listed near the beginning of each journal issue.

How to tell if a journal is peer-reviewed

• If you are searching for scholarly or peer-reviewed articles in a database, you may be able to limit your results to peer-reviewed articles. 
• If you're looking at the journal itself, search for references to their peer-review process, such as in an editorial statement, or a section with instructions to authors. 
• You can also check the entry for a journal in the Library Catalogue. Many journal records will have a note in the Description section, e.g. to say "Refereed / Peer-reviewed."

Also known as the checkout counter, loans counter, or Access Services, the circulation desk is where you can borrow materials, pay fines, and pick up requests (or holds). You will need your library card to borrow materials.

The circulation desk is located near the library entrance at all SFU Library locations.