Assessing the use of Canadian Literature in teaching at Simon Fraser University

Abstract

For over a decade, members of Canada’s creative industries have claimed that Canadian post-secondary institutions are copying and using content without adequately compensating creators; these campaigns have primarily focused on fiction authors. This study aims to address these claims by determining how much Canadian creative literature is actually being used in a representative Canadian university. We analyzed reading materials provided to students as library reserves, textbooks, and course packs for the periods 2010-2012 and 2018-2022 and found that across both periods approximately 1.3% of courses assigned Canadian creative works as readings. An analysis of only the Fall semesters across these periods found that approximately 0.7% of all works – that is, copied excerpts and uncopied (purchased) works – assigned via library reserves, textbooks, and course packs were Canadian creative works. The number of assigned readings that included copied Canadian creative works (generally consisting only of course packs, not textbooks and likely not library reserves) would comprise much less than 0.7%. Therefore, this research suggests that the use and specifically copying of Canadian creative content in Canadian universities is not substantial enough to result in significant potential remuneration for the copying of an author’s work.