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SURFdirect (SURF’s Digital Rights Expert Community) and Creative Commons Netherlands recommend the most liberal Creative Commons licence (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Netherlands Licence; CC:BY) for reuse of material in the context of education and research. Their Dutch report on this issue is also available in English ‘Reuse of material in the context of education and research’. 

The rise of the Internet and other new ICT tools have led to drastic changes in the options for distribution and reuse. These changes demand a reorientation in the rules for sharing educational and research materials.

Since sharing educational and research materials is high on the agenda of Dutch higher education and research institutions, SURFdirect and Creative Commons examined the different Open Content licences that are available and that will make clear to reusers what they are permitted to do with material held in repositories. 

SURFdirect has indicated that the choice of licence must not create barriers to the future use of educational and research material, that it can be applied at both research universities and universities of applied sciences [hogescholen], and that this can in fact be done in 80% of cases, this report recommends using the most liberal Creative Commons licence for textual output:

On the basis of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Netherlands Licence, users of the licensed work are permitted to copy it, distribute it, and pass it on, and produce derivative works and distribute them on condition that the work is attributed to its author. This licence freely permits commercial use and derivative works as long as users comply with the requirements regarding attribution. These comprise not only giving the name of the author but also the obligation to clearly designate derivative works as such.

Another important recommendation in this report is that SURF should set up an effective awareness-raising campaign in order to introduce and explain Creative Commons licences to those ‘in the field’.

Keywords:
Reuse, creative commons, CC:BY, SURFdirect, licence, Open content, educational materials, research materials