An academic course pack is usually a photocopied collection of materials used in the classroom, given out either in book format or as class handouts. Academic course packs are usually offered for sale in campus bookstores, although professors may arrange to sell them in class. Most publishers give permission for their books or articles to be copied and distributed in educational contexts. Permission or clearances normally last for one semester or school term then after that the instructor must seek clearance again. In addition to the paper academic course packs, some companies now help put together electronic course packs used in electronic teaching programs.

Up until 1991, many instructors and photocopy shops put together and sold course packs without permission and without paying the authors or publishers anything. In 1991, the court said that reprinting copyrighted materials for academic course packs was not a fair use and that permission was required. Many campus copy shops still perform course pack assembly but these copy shops have either affiliated with established clearance services or are prepared to obtain clearance on behalf of instructors. The instructor must obtain clearance for materials used in class. Teachers typically delegate this task to clearance services, which is the easiest method of clearance and assembly, university bookstores or copy shops that specialize in clearances or to department administration.

Private clearance services will get permission and assemble course packs on your behalf for a fee. After the course packs are created and sold, the clearance service collects royalties and distributes the payments to the rights holders. Educational institutions may require that the instructor use a specific clearance service. The total fees that clearance companies charge for assembling an academic course pack are based on the cost of copyright permission for the material copied, plus copying, binding, the clearance services processing fee, and, if sold in a campus bookstore, the stores markup.

Permission fees vary, but most publishers charge approximately 8 to 10 cents per copied page. The student buying the course pack ultimately absorbs the cost of the permission. Clearance companies will sometimes work on a copyright only basis, which means they get permission to include the material in the academic course pack, but they do not assemble the course packs. That job is usually left to the bookstore, copy shop, or academic support staff.

Instead of hiring a clearance company to obtain clearance and assemble a course pack for you, an alternative is that you or your secretary can do it instead. A clearance company may be unable to obtain permission for certain items that you may be able to obtain yourself. Second, by assembling an academic course pack yourself you can save students money by minimizing your fees.