What Should Students Pay for University Course Readings? An Empirical, Economic, and Legal - Analysis

Oct 15, 2026

The study addresses copyright disputes in Canadian higher education over the scope of fair dealing for assigned course readings in a digital environment. It analyzes 3,391 course syllabuses (2015–2020) from 34 Canadian universities to quantify how reading types are assigned. Using the syllabus data, the study proposes a three-step syllabus rule based on a per-page royalty charge, aiming to prevent double-charging students for academic materials while fairly compensating authors and publishers. The rule supports charging $1.40 per student per year.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review and Legal Context

What Should Students Pay for University Course Readings? An Empirical, Economic, and Legal Analysis John Willinsky Stanford University Catherine Baron Stanford University Abstract The digital transformation of knowledge dissemination and academic publishing have sparked copyright disputes in the educational sector related to the scope of fair dealing. This study contributes (a) an empirical basis for such discussions by analyzing 3,391 course syllabuses (2015–2020) from 34 Canadian universities, and (b) a potential resolution to the disputes to which this analysis is applied. Among the reading types, 26.6% of the syllabuses had readings from academic sources, while 8.3% of the syllabuses had media articles and trade book chapters (with some overlap) . The syllabus data are used to calculate a per-page royalty charge, which is used to demonstrate a proposed three-step syllabus rule to avoid double-charging students for academic materials (amounting to 90 .1% of readings by pages), while fairly compensating professional authors and their publishers (9.9% of readings by pages). The three-step syllabus rule provides a sound rationale for charging each student $1.40 per year to cover royalty charges for readings assigned in Canadian university courses. Keywords: higher education, scholarly publishing, copyright, syllabus readings, university libraries Résumé La transformation numérique de la diffusion des connaissances et de l’édition universitaire a déclenché des litiges en matièrede droit d’auteur dans le secteur de l’éducation, liés à la portée de l’utilisation équitable. Cette étude propose a) une base empirique pour de telles discussions en analysant 3 391 plans de cours (2015–2020) de 34 universités canadiennes, et b) une solution potentielle aux différends auxquels cette analyse est appliquée. Parmi les types de lectures, 26,6 % des plans decours comportaient des lectures provenant de sources universitaires, tandis que 8,3 % comportaient des articles de presseet des chapitres de livres généraux (avec un certain chevauchement) . Les données tirées des plans de cours sont utilisées pour calculer une redevance par page, qui est utilisée pour démontrer une proposition de règle en trois étapes visant à éviterde faire payer les étudiants en double pour le matériel de cours (équivalant à 90,1 % des lectures par page), tout en assurant la juste rémunération des auteurs professionnels et de leurs éditeurs (9,9 % des lectures par page) . La règle en trois étapes constitue un fondement solide pour facturer à chaque étudiant 1,40 $ par année afin de couvrir les redevances pour les textes donnés à lire dans les cours universitaires canadiens. Mots-clés : enseignement supérieur, édition savante, droits d’auteur, lectures obligatoires, bibliothèques universitaires Introduction When it comes to the readings assigned to students participating in Canadian university courses, two types prevail: the textbook, a pedagogical work dedicated to instructing students in a particular topic, and readings, made up of research articles, book chapters, and ex- cerpts drawn from scholarly and trade publications. The assignment of readings has been plagued by copyright disputes since the age of the photocopy, with little let-up in the move from surelock-bound photocopied coursepacks to cloud-based downloads. The infringement litigation that inspired this article began with Access Copyright’s suit against York University in 2013 (and is Canadian Journal of Higher Education | Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur 51:4 (2021) still before the courts as we write), which claims that the use of assigned course readings constitutes copyright infringement, with the university defending itself by holding that assigned course readings qualify as fair dealing (discussed below) . This article is also intended to address a knowledge gap that policy makers have identified in grappling with the scope of fair dealing in the digital context.

FAQs

What problem does the study investigate regarding university course readings?

The study investigates copyright disputes related to fair dealing in the educational sector in the context of digital distribution of course readings.

How does the research gather evidence for its analysis?

It analyzes 3,391 course syllabuses from 2015–2020 across 34 Canadian universities to examine the types of readings assigned.

What is the proposed approach to charging students for readings?

The study proposes a three-step syllabus rule using a per-page royalty charge to avoid double-charging students for academic materials while fairly compensating authors and publishers, supporting a $1.40 per student per year charge.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Danger Angel