The Copyright Modernization Act, (Bill C-11) received royal assent on June 29, 2012. Strengthened by Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decisions, the scope of fair dealing in this bill was expanded to include education rights for research and private study. North Island College adopted fair dealing guidelines and implemented NIC Policy 1-17 on September 26, 2012.
Along with the Copyright Act of Canada, which governs use of copyrighted materials, the library has several license agreements with database providers, publishers, and distributors with specific terms and conditions. In addition to these resources, acquired on a subscription model, a number of open access resources licensed under Creative Commons are available to educators for use.