Journal of Copyright in Education & Librarianship

An Introduction to the Special Issue on Paths to Copyright Librarianship

Sandra Aya Enimil — 2022-09-13

As adults, conversations about work and careers are standard. Copyright librarianship is a unique field and inevitably people ask, “How did you get into that?” Like many folks, I have an origin story that belies the smooth arc we all imagine. I had been thinking about my journey, and wondering how others came to this work. Could they point to a moment or person that helped them along the way? Might my and others’ stories be insightful or beneficial to others? The stories in this issue are all different and compelling. Read on and learn the varied ways lawyers and librarians became copyright librarians.

From Law Firm to Library: Finding a Second Career as a Copyright Specialist

Kate Dickson — 2022-09-13

My first job out of law school was as an associate at a big DC law firm, where I rotated through the firm’s pro bono and education practice groups. After a couple of years in DC, I moved to a smaller firm in my home town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina—I learned a lot at the big firm, but I wanted to experience a community law practice where I could see my clients across the desk and advocate for them in a more personal way. I took on a wide variety of cases, and rather serendipitously, while volunteering for the local arts commission, I came to represent several local artists in small-scale copyright matters. My interest in copyright was piqued, and I started looking for ways to incorporate more of this work into my practice. I happen to have a few family members who are librarians, and I live in a town with a great library school. I made appointments to talk with several law librarians and library copyright specialists, and decided to apply to library school. While I was in library school, I interned at two law libraries and also at Duke’s copyright office, and after graduating I was lucky enough to find a job as a copyright librarian. I’ve found that working as a copyright librarian incorporates many of the things I loved about practicing law—my one-on-one copyright consultations with faculty and other members of the campus community have the personal feel of client meetings at a small law firm, while the issues we deal with have the interest and import of big firm matters. I also get to work closely with my general counsel’s office, so I feel well supported on tricky questions. I keep my law license active so that I can volunteer on other issues I care about, such as voting rights. I hope this story will be helpful to anyone currently practicing law who might be interested in finding a fulfilling second career that allows them to use their legal education and practice experience in a new way.

Anatomy of a New Copyright Librarian

Susan K. Kendall — 2022-09-13

My journey to working with copyright at the Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries began with images for medical education. I was Coordinator for Health Sciences at the Libraries, during which time instructors creating a new online curriculum asked for clear guidance on images they could include. Over a period of years, I negotiated licenses with major medical publishers to allow image use from our subscription resources for this purpose. Through this project, I grew my expertise and knowledge about copyright issues, which gave me confidence to propose taking on the part-time copyright librarian position when the existing copyright librarian retired. I’m now in the position and enjoy collaborating with people across the MSU Libraries and across subject areas to promote understanding of copyright for teaching, learning, and scholarship.

The Order of Success: A Slow Path to Copyright Librarianship

LeEtta M. Schmidt — 2022-09-13

No faculty lines were open when I graduated with my MLS at the library where I was employed as a staff member, but I was able to take advantage of organizational restructuring to obtain a management position over interlibrary loan. My department head at the time was assigned with providing copyright assistance. I seized the opportunity to learn more while I searched for a position that required my degree. I was supported while pursuing continuing education in copyright. I was also given increasing responsibilities that I suspected were beyond my rank. My eagerness to develop a professional skill set had worked both for and against me.

From Novice to Expert: Building Copyright Expertise Over Time

Stephanie Savage — 2022-09-13

Students and early career professionals should not be dissuaded from considering a career in copyright librarianship if they have an interest in the subject matter and a willingness to seek out professional development opportunities. Despite starting my MLIS degree with no legal or academic libraries experience, I was able to obtain a skill set in copyright literacy that enabled me to secure an entry level copyright librarian position upon graduation. Those who are willing to embrace being a novice and seek out available opportunities to build their expertise will find copyright librarianship a rewarding and valuable area of specialization to pursue.

Being a Copyright Professional in Museum and Library Land

Kiowa Hammons — 2022-09-13

A big lesson I’ve learned in my career as a copyright specialist is that copyright is an inevitable and essential factor for collecting institutions, but is often overlooked. I attended the Pratt Institute in New York for an MLIS with the intention of working as a librarian in a museum or public library, but as I neared graduation I found the job market and my focus wavering. An internship at Exit Art Gallery digitizing their archives showed me the growing importance of digitization for preservation and access. This internship led me to a job at The Whitney Museum in their Rights and Reproductions department: licensing images and contacting rights holders for permission to use their work. I was finding a unique pathway to archives and collections through copyright research, and the desire of cultural institutions to make these collections more accessible was one I believed in. These skills coalesced when I started at The New York Public Library as a Rights Coordinator, and later as a Manager leading a team to facilitate digitization. The library offered vast collections with copyright webs to untangle, and gave me the chance to utilize my degree as a library specialist in copyright.

A Researcher’s Curiosity, a Risk Manager’s Temperament, and an Educator’s Commitment

Mayya Revzina — 2022-09-13

I am Mayya Revzina, originally from Kirov and Moscow, Russia, currently living in Bethesda, Maryland. I am a publishing professional with experience in communications and international publishing in Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. I began my career in publishing in 2006 working for a small Russian publisher, OGI Press (United Humanities Press), famous for its publications of poetry, non-fiction, and contemporary novels. When interviewed by a panel of officers from World Bank Publications at the London Book Fair 2007, where I was competing with fellow graduate students from U.K. universities for the World Bank Publishing Internship Prize, I confessed that my dream job would be to become a rights manager and facilitate translations into different languages. For the past 15 years, I have been working as a copyright and publishing rights manager at the World Bank. At the moment I am focused on safeguarding the success of the Bank’s Open Access Policy and Open Knowledge Repository, as well as educating my colleagues, including researchers, communication professionals, and knowledge managers, about copyright, open access and public licensing. In 2017 I launched the Copyright Coffee educational series at the World Bank Group library, which have generated great demand.

Paths to a Career in Copyright Leadership: When Metadata Met Copyright

Mariah S. Lewis — 2022-09-13

This article explores the experience of a librarian with a background in metadata and digital collections and the introduction of copyright into their career. It offers insight on how to handle copyright if it is added to your job description.

Paved by Good Intentions

Emily G. Finch — 2022-09-13

I was thrilled to be accepted into the University of Michigan for my Masters of Science in Information, but it was an unexpected deviation as my health derailed my original plan to pursue a career in criminal law. As I enrolled in classes with my peers who intended to pursue careers as librarians and archivists, I was the odd person out asking myself how I could market my research in these courses to law schools in the future. I had always assumed I had incompatible passions, a love for history, literature, and research coupled with disinterest in pursuing a single field towards a Ph.D., and that my legal career would support my hobbies in the cultural heritage sector. With a heavy dose of irony I walked into “SI519 Intellectual Property and Information Law,” my first graduate school class, determined to use it to confirm to law schools my decision to pursue criminal law, but walked across the stage at graduation ecstatic to build a career at the intersection of copyright law and cultural heritage. Fantastic mentors, supportive networks, and timely court rulings and legislative changes, paved a path and provided me a stepping stone into a career at the intersection of my passions in a field I had not known existed. I entered the field at an increasingly critical time and had unique access to practitioners that helped create opportunities for engagement without which, I would not have had the opportunity to accept a tenure track librarian position at the age 24 as my first full time job out of library school.

Creative Common: Copyright Zen

Ron Stafford — 2022-09-13

As a photographer, copyright has always been an issue for me—but solely from a creative standpoint. Until I began working as an academic library director, I never thought of copyright from an educational or use viewpoint. When I accepted my current position, I started an OER initiative at Northeastern Technical College and found myself needing to understand the nuances of copyright. My faculty began to incorporate videos, text, artwork, and varied forms of media in online classes. I had to know if they were following copyright and using educational fair use correctly. Quickly copyright became a large part of my workload. Working with OER repositories, I quickly realized Creative Commons was the most important aspect of copyright for myself and my faculty. During the height of COVID, I did the Creative Commons Certification Course and completed an independent study at the University of South Carolina, with Dick Kawooya, on OER and Copyright expert. After gaining this knowledge, my colleague Mark Knockemus presented this information at conferences and webinars. Copyright has become a significant part of my job. I enjoy educating and working with faculty to ensure we are not breaking the law and ensuring our students have class materials.

Copyright Buddies: Cultivating Teamwork to Support Our Copyright Journey

Susan E. Beck — 2022-09-13

Our journey to gaining copyright competence started many years ago but from two different points. Susan was teaching an information literacy course and needed to quickly come up to speed to present a unit to her students on copyright and fair use. This led to a book chapter on using fair use cases in the classroom, to taking courses on copyright, attending copyright conferences, and working with New Mexico State University (NMSU) general counsel on an all-campus copyright compliance module. As a newly minted Access Services department head at NMSU Library, Norice traveled down the copyright road from a library services management perspective, developing copyright policies for interlibrary loan, e-reserves, and copy center services. In time, she partnered with the university’s general counsel and others to present copyright sessions across campus. She now regularly teaches copyright to medical students at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (Burrell) and has led the development of that college’s copyright policy and guidelines. Our U.S.-Mexico border region is somewhat of a information resource desert, with few academic libraries and librarians nearby to learn from and lean on. We soon became copyright buddies, developing a tag-team approach to helping each other navigate perplexing copyright questions, bouncing ideas and scenarios off one another to support and help each other grow and gain expertise.

A Tribute to Fritz Dolak, Copyright Librarian of Ball State University

Dwayne K. Buttler — 2022-09-13

The community of copyright professionals lost a champion recently, with the passing of Frank J. (“Fritz”) Dolak on July 14, 2021. Fritz was the copyright librarian at Ball State University, and he was known nationally for the series of annual copyright conferences he organized and led in Indiana, and for his leadership in addressing the use of copyrighted works for the enhancement of distance education. He came to copyright after years of music, military service, and more. A hallmark of his life was bringing clarity and humor to serious challenges, starting with his family name. He had a simple family name that was routinely mispronounced. As Fritz would tell anyone who would listen, “The name is ‘Doo-Lok,’ as in ‘Do Lock the Door.’” Fritz was a professional colleague to many editors and contributors to JCEL. Three of his copyright colleagues—Dwayne K. Buttler, Kenneth D. Crews, and Donna L. Ferullo—worked with him for many years, and they share memories of Dr. Fritz Dolak and his influence and leadership. The story of Fritz Dolak is a story of kindness, generosity, and inspiration.