Copibec—Educator Space

SAMUEL

Did you know your copying licence gives you free access to the material in our SAMUEL platform? SAMUEL, which stands for Simplified Access for MUltidisciplinary Education and Learning, is a digital content platform created by Copibec. Access is fast and easy. If you already have an account in our Savia online copy reporting system, all you have to do is use the same codes! And if you don’t already have an account, you can create one in five simple steps.

SAMUEL is the place to go for detective novels, science fiction, kids’ books, short stories, chronicles and literature for all ages plus contemporary art, press photos, song lyrics, sheet music, dictionaries and so much more! Most of the content is currently in French but new material in English and French is being added by our partners all the time!

Explore new ground with SAMUEL!

In SAMUEL, stories are told and illustrated by accomplished authors and artists. It’s a great place to encounter princesses, monsters, cats, elves or even aliens! You’ll find authors who talk about love and friendship and who know how to scare us, take us on an adventure or make us dream. Whether you’re looking for text or images to develop a reading activity, celebrate a special occasion or move through the seasons, SAMUEL lets you explore a broad range of material.

Are you preparing a class activity about animals? SAMUEL contains images and stories whose heroes are elephants, skunks, tortoises, insects and other creepy crawlies and climbers! It also offers song lyrics that feature all sorts of creatures, some furry, some not! SAMUEL is full of animal-related resources, including a large number of press photos showing stars from the animal kingdom.

Vast universes are there for you, giving older students the opportunity to make discoveries. Dark reflections, glimpses into the past, contemporary tableaus: the texts are as varied as their authors.

What if sociology, geography and history are your thing? The experts are waiting for you in SAMUEL. Check out the biographies of the men and women who helped build the world we live in today. Need visual elements for your projects? The works in SAMUEL are overflowing with photos, illustrations, maps and charts.

Plus, SAMUEL gives you access to press photos, works by contemporary artists and examples of theatre decors. Thousands of visual works of all kinds are at your fingertips!

Do you use music in your teaching? Do you want to talk about music or delve into the lyrics of certain songwriters? SAMUEL has an inventory of song lyrics and sheet music. Of course, you’ll also find works about music, including novels, picture books, essays and photos of instruments or venues!

SAMUEL is included in the MEESR/Copibec agreement

SAMUEL is free for all teachers in preschool, elementary and high school institutions covered by the copying agreement between Copibec and the Quebec ministry of education. The platform’s content can be used and reproduced according to the terms and conditions of the agreement. Accessing SAMUEL is fast and easy, and the quality of the generated PDFs is excellent!

The PDFs produced by SAMUEL can be displayed on a smartboard, added to an intranet for students or printed and handed out in class. The data collected from SAMUEL is used by Copibec to pay royalties to the creators of the material used.

To access SAMUEL, you need an account in our Savia system. If you don’t already have an account, create one in five simple steps! Just be sure you indicate your school in step 2.

Access SAMUEL

Who is Copibec?

Copibec, whose official name is the Société québécoise de gestion collective des droits de reproduction, is a not-for-profit organization that operates as the Quebec copyright licensing agency. Our mission is to manage reproduction rights for published works and their digital versions on behalf of copyright owners. We manage the rights for millions of books, newspaper articles, magazines, specialized periodicals, song lyrics, and much more.

By managing the reproduction rights for most Canadian and foreign publications (Copibec represents nearly 30 countries under reciprocal agreements), we provide one-stop service so that a wide spectrum of Quebec users can quickly and easily get permission for occasional copying or take advantage of comprehensive copying licences that cover their ongoing needs.

Copibec is a member of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), which represents reproduction rights organizations as well as associations of authors and publishers from all over the world.

Why do we need a copying agreement?

Canada’s Copyright Act generally does not allow you to make copies without the copyright owner’s permission unless the expected use falls under one of the specified exceptions. As a result, teaching personnel who want to copy articles or excerpts from published works for their students need to request permission from the publisher or author for every text copied. Managing those requests one by one would obviously involve a lot of work for both the copyright owner and you as a user.

To streamline and speed up the permission process, copyright owners have set up Copibec, which has the authority to issue comprehensive copying licences on their behalf.

Copying agreement

The Quebec Ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche has signed an agreement with Copibec to allow educational institutions at the preschool, elementary and high school levels to make copies in paper and digital format within certain specific limits. To quickly check whether your institution is covered by the agreement, click here.

In consideration for the right to make copies, the Ministère pays Copibec an annual fee to ensure that the authors and publishers of the copied excerpts receive royalties (licence fees) for the use of their works.

Teaching and administrative personnel in schools are required to respect the terms and conditions of the agreement and are responsible for reporting copying data to Copibec.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Types of copying allowed

The agreement allows you to copy excerpts in print or digital format. In certain cases, complete works can also be displayed to students.

Copying excerpts

Under the agreement, you are allowed to make print and digital format copies of works in the Copibec repertoire (catalogue) if you respect the following limit:

• 15% of each work

However, the copying limit is as follows for works developed specifically for preschool, elementary or high school education purposes (teachers’ guides, students’ textbooks, exercise books, grammar guides and atlases designed specifically for programs of instruction, etc.):

• 10% of the work or 25 pages, whichever is less

Excerpts in digital format can be displayed in class on a smartboard or used on a tablet or computer or in a PowerPoint-type presentation or slideshow. They can be stored on a USB flash drive, CD-ROM or the school’s or school board’s secure network. They can also be sent to students or teaching personnel via email as long as a school or school board email address is used. However, if the excerpt is commercially available in digital format, that version must be purchased.

Digital format excerpts must be accompanied by a clearly visible notice that prohibits the following:

• Printing out more than one copy
• Making any other copies or transmitting the excerpts except in the context of communications with the teacher or other students for team projects or participatory work

Examples of authorized copying:

• Photocopy or digitize (scan) 25 pages from a guide or textbook containing a total of 300 pages (10% or 25 pages, whichever is less)
• Photocopy or digitize (scan) 8 pages from an exercise book containing a total of 80 pages (10% or 25 pages, whichever is less)
• Photocopy or digitize (scan) 20 pages from a grammar guide or atlas designed for elementary or high school education purposes containing a total of 200 pages (10% or 25 pages, whichever is less)
• Photocopy or digitize (scan) 6 pages from a novel or general work containing a total of 40 pages (15%)
• Digitize (scan) a 3-page article from a magazine containing 20 pages and display it on a smartboard (15%). However, if the article is already available in digital format, the version commercially available for purchase must be used.
• Save 7 pages from a children’s book containing 48 pages for the next class after working on them with students by using smartboard tools (15%)
• Photocopy or digitize (scan) 12 pages of sheet music from a collection totalling 80 pages (15%)
• Download a newspaper article
• Rekey (retype) the lyrics of a song

Works developed specifically for preschool, elementary or high school education purposes are identified in the Copibec repertoire. To view our repertoire, you must have a user account that gives you access to Savia, Copibec’s online system.

The agreement does not allow you to make copies that will be used to produce coursepacks or exercise books. Copied excerpts made available on a network must not be accessible to the general public.

In general, website content is excluded from the Copibec repertoire unless the selected excerpt was published in a book, newspaper, magazine, CD liner notes, etc. However, some websites have given Copibec authority to manage their rights. A relevant notice will appear on the sites of those partners. For more information about how copyright protected material can be used under the Copyright Act, please refer to our Copyright overview page.

Displaying entire works

Works not available in digital format

Under the agreement, you can also make one copy of an entire work that is not commercially available in digital format in order to display it (on a smartboard, for example) or use a document camera to project an entire work as long as a few original versions of the work are available to students at the time the work is being displayed.

Works available in digital format

An entire work that was legitimately acquired in digital format can be displayed using a smartboard. However, in the case of legitimately acquired digital format works specifically designed for preschool, elementary or high school education purposes, when the work is not available on the market with a license from the publisher for classroom presentation, projection using a smartboard is permitted if all students have an original copy of the work. When a work comes with a license from the publisher, the terms and conditions of the publisher’s license must be respected.

A copy of the work displayed must have been bought by the school or the teacher for his/her class.

Alternative format

Under the agreement, you are allowed to reproduce an entire work in large print or modify its original colours for use by persons with sensory, physical or neurological disabilities. It is also possible to modify a work so that students can enter their answers or notes directly, as long as the work was legitimately acquired in digital format and does not already allow that type of use.

Special conditions for “learning and evaluation situations”

Under the Copyright Act, copyright protected works can now be copied in order to create tests or exams (“evaluation situations”). However, this does not apply to “learning situations”, which means that users still have to request permission from Copibec for that purpose.

It should be noted that teaching personnel and professionals who copy the “learning situations” and “evaluation situations” developed by the Ministère, Société GRICS or the Fédération des établissements d’enseignement privés should complete the copy log that comes with the document and submit it to Copibec by fax or email. By taking that simple step, you will make a difference by ensuring that authors receive income for the use of their work.

Bibliographic references

All copies distributed to students must contain bibliographic references. Under the Copyright Act, authors have the right to be associated with their works. The author’s name therefore has to be shown on all copied excerpts.

A complete bibliographic reference consists of the following:

• Author’s name
• Title of the work
• Publisher
• Publication place and year
• Page numbers copied

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Exclusions List

Copibec’s Exclusions List indicates the works and categories of works that are excluded from the copying agreement.

To copy works on the Exclusions List, you have to make arrangements directly with the copyright owner (publisher or author, as applicable).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Pay-per-use licences

A pay-per-use licence (specific authorization) must be requested from Copibec for any copying that exceeds the agreement’s authorized limits or any use that is not covered by the agreement:

• Copying beyond the licenced limits
• Permanently binding excerpts taken from different works (e.g. to create exercise books or coursepacks)
• Uses not covered by the agreement (e.g. continuing education services for businesses)

The fee for copies not covered by the agreement is $0.10 per page, up to a maximum of 20% of the total number of pages in the work. If you would like to copy more than 20%, Copibec will contact the copyright owner on your behalf to request permission and, if applicable, confirm the applicable fee.

If you are not sure which types of copying are covered or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Data collection and reporting

What is the data used for?

In order for the royalties (licence fees) paid by the ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche to be distributed individually and fairly among authors and publishers, Copibec needs to collect data that identifies the works copied and confirms the number of copies made.

You have an essential role to play in this process. Thanks to your participation, the collected royalties can be paid to the authors and publishers of the works that you copy as part of your professional duties.

Who has to report their copies? Which copies have to be reported?

Each year, a minimum of 350 public and private education institutions are selected to participate in the data collection process. All faculty and professional staff of these institutions must be involved in the collection and reporting of reproductions made during the following periods:

• July 1 to November 30
• December 1 to March 31
• April 1 to June 30

To do so, participants can use Savia, Copibec’s online system, or Altilogix’s Repro +.

Access to Savia is free and users also have access, with the same code and password, to SAMUEL, Copibec’s content platform.

Each educational institution is also required to appoint an administrator for the school. He or she will, in particular, be responsible for accepting the costs of all authorizations and manage Savia accounts linked to its establishment.

The license also requires that each schoolboard declares the excerpts of works made available to its students, its teachers and other staff on its secure network. The declaration must also be made through Savia, Copibec’s online system, or Repro + by indicating the number of people (students and staff) who will have access to the reproductions. The declaration must be made when the reproduction is accessible on the secure network.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us! And have a look at the tutorials available on the right of this page.