Coursepacks are print collections of materials. These are arranged through the bookstore, printed for TWU, and sold at the bookstore.

Advantages

• The material used in coursepacks has been cleared with Access Copyright to ensure the use is legal. 
• The bookstore staff are great to work with.

Disadvantages

• Cost.
  • Students may be paying again for materials they can already access for free through the library.
• Inflexibility – once the printing is done.
• Environmental impact of using paper.

Other considerations

It is possible to use a coursepack for materials where the amount that needs to be copied exceeds what is permitted under fair dealing and use a combination of the other options on this page for the rest of the materials.

Many of our electronic databases and e-book collections provide stable links (permalinks, durable links, etc.) to articles and e-book chapters that can be placed in MyCourses or on a class website. As of July 18, 2025, browser URLs in all EBSCO databases (including Library OneSearch) serve as permanent links to articles and ebooks. You do not need to look up a separate permalink.

Advantages

• It's free. Students have already paid for access in their student fees.
• One-click access.

Disadvantages

• Not all databases provide permanent links to their articles.
• Some stable links, e.g., JSTOR's, work on campus, but not off campus unless they're modified by adding TWU's proxy information.
• Creating permanent links to non-EBSCO database resources can be fussy.

Other considerations

You may want to give students the references of articles you would like them to access and have them learn how to find an article from a reference as part of your learning outcomes.

Finding Articles from a Reference

There are two ways to find an article from a reference:

1. Look up the title of the journal through the library website. This brief tutorial shows how, starting at the :43 second mark.

2. Look up the title of the article using Google Scholar through the library website. To do this, find the Google Scholar link on the library home page and use it to log into Google Scholar. Enter the article title you are seeking using quotation marks around it. If TWU has full text, you will see a link to the right of the article citation in the search result.

Under the Fair Dealing provisions of copyright law, we can copy and provide to students brief excerpts of copyright material for educational purposes. The PDFs must be on a password protected site and available only to students in the course.

Advantages

• It's free.
• It's the most flexible option. Instructors can provide snippets of material from their personal libraries.
• Materials that the library has in print only can be provided to distance students.
• Most databases/journals permit the posting of PDFs on password-protected course-related sites.

Disadvantages

• In the case of scanning, the amount that can be copied is limited to the relatively short amounts permitted under Fair Dealing.
• Some journals do not permit us to post articles.
• Determining how much may be copied legally is not always straightforward.

Other considerations

You can view the licence agreements we have with many of our database providers here. If you have questions, feel free to contact  Darcy Gullacher.