Guidelines for Reproduction of Materials

These guidelines apply to all faculty, staff, and administrators requesting Reprographics services or using university equipment.


Reprographics Printing Requests Process

  • The end user fills out appropriate work order ticket and has it approved by their VP/Dean
  • The end user sends Reprographics a PDF version of their file (correctly sized for the desired outcome) as well as their approved work order ticket
  • Reprographics issues the ticket a job number and processing of the request begins

Lead Time

Lead time varies depending on the size of the document and number of copies required. Large print requests can take one to two weeks. Submit your job with adequate lead time to ensure it is ready when you need it.


Environmental Sustainability

BMCC is committed to and actively engaged in efforts to increase environmental sustainability. In support of this commitment:

  • Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to deliver materials to students and others electronically whenever possible and appropriate. Self-service copiers for scanning material that is not already in digital format are available in department offices and walkup copier locations, and Digital Education Center staff can provide faculty training for delivering materials through BlackBoard.
  • It is BMCC policy that all copies made by Reprographics must be double-sided. If a copy request requires single-sided copies, it must be authorized and signed by the appropriate Vice President.

Copyright Compliance

Reprographics strives to ensure that copying done by its staff is in compliance with copyright law. In order to accomplish this:

  • All requests for reproduction of copyrighted material must include information identifying the source of the material (e.g., author/creator, publisher, date of publication, title of book if document is a book chapter, URL for web-based material, etc.).
  • All requests for copies will be reviewed by Reprographics for copyright compliance, as well as fair use when appropriate (see fair use links under Resources).
  • Faculty and staff submitting materials for which there are questions about compliance with copyright law may be asked to provide additional information.
  • In some cases, Reprographics may decline to make copies of material if it is determined that doing so would likely be in violation of copyright (e.g., a request to copy an entire book or play).

Reprographics can copy material:

  • that is in the public domain
  • for which the requestor holds the copyright
  • for which the requestor has received permission to reproduce from the author/creator, including material with Creative Commons and other open licenses
  • for which copying falls under the fair use provision of copyright law

If the material does not fall in the first three categories above, the requestor should assess if fair use is likely to apply according to the fair use provision of copyright law (see fair use links under Resources for more information) before submitting the material to Reprographics.


Fair Use

Fair use is a limitation to the exclusive rights of copyright holders that allows use of copyrighted material under certain conditions (see links to fair use information under Resources for the four fair use factors).

It is important to note that fair use does not automatically apply to all uses of copyrighted material in educational settings. Use of any copyrighted material needs to be assessed as to whether fair use applies, as there are circumstances under which fair use would not cover an educational use (e.g., duplicating an entire book or play and distributing it to a class, either in print or digitally).

For more information on fair use, visit the resources below or consult with Jean Amaral, Open Knowledge Librarian (jamaral@bmcc.cuny.edu).


Use of Self-service Copiers

Faculty and staff using self-service copiers are encouraged to review information about copyright and fair use before making copies. Faculty and staff who violate copyright law do so at their own risk and assume all liability.


Resources