Journal of Copyright in Education & Librarianship

In Keeping with Academic Tradition: Copyright ownership in higher education and potential implications for Open Education

Lindsey Gumb — 2022-04-25

Most postsecondary institutions in the United States have a copyright and/or intellectual property (IP) ownership policy, outlining under various circumstances the ownership of copyright and IP generated by faculty, staff, and students (Patel, 1996). As awareness of open educational resources (OER) increases and both faculty and student creation of openly licensed materials builds momentum, a closer examination of copyright ownership policies and what legal and ethical implications they may have for open education is crucial. This study analyzed 109 copyright ownership policies at both public and independent two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions of higher education in the U.S. and surveyed facilitators of open education initiatives (generally librarians and related educators) at these same institutions (N = 51) to gather the perceptions and preferences of their copyright policies with respect to locally-developed OER.

The content analysis revealed that while the ownership of scholarly works overwhelmingly belongs to the person who created the work, variables such as unusual support and potential uses affect copyright ownership. These factors can be problematic for faculty who receive support through campus programs to create and share openly licensed instructional materials beyond their institution and are also problematic for students participating in OER-enabled pedagogy coursework and projects. While our survey showed that many in the open community indicate that they have great confidence in their understanding of these policies, that certainty is often pinned to a sense of shared values and unspoken assumptions, rather than clear legal rules or reliable policy.

Controlled Digital Lending of Video Resources: Ensuring the Provision of Streaming Access to Videos for Pedagogical Purposes in Academic Libraries

Christian Lear — 2022-01-04

This article examines a current crisis within media librarianship regarding the challenges for academic libraries in providing streaming access to video resources despite the growing need for users to have streaming access. The article discusses this crisis largely within the context of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease of 2019) and how the pandemic has exacerbated the problem. This article also posits a possible solution to the issue through the application of controlled digital lending (CDL) to video resources for a pedagogical purpose. The article demonstrates the extent of the crisis, examines how other media librarians have addressed the problem, and shows the limitations to the solutions that have so far been offered. It then broadly discusses the concept of CDL and how this practice could be applied to video resources to address the frequent inability of libraries to provide streaming access to videos.

Copyright in the Time of COVID-19: An Australian Perspective

Amanda Bellenger — 2021-11-30

COVID-19 has raised many challenges in terms of applying Australian copyright legislation and related policies to higher education context. This paper describes the experience of Copyright Officers at Curtin University and Murdoch University from the initial stages of border-control measures affecting delivery of learning materials to students in China, to the wider disruption of the pandemic with many countries implementing lockdown measures, to the current environment where remote delivery is the “new normal.” The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth of Australia) provides narrow fair dealing exceptions (sections 40 and 41) and broader but more uncertain flexible dealing exceptions (section 200AB), creating a barrier for educators providing access to the information resources needed for teaching, learning, and research. The uncertainty of applying section 200AB was exacerbated by the conditions caused by the pandemic. The authors describe their experiences in providing copyright support during the pandemic as well as how the copyright services adapted to meet requirements.

Rapid Response: Developing a Suite of Copyright Support Services and Resources at the University of Central Florida during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sarah Norris — 2021-09-02

Like many academic libraries, the University of Central Florida (UCF) Libraries has faced the difficult challenge of ensuring access to information and supporting the research, scholarship, and teaching needs of faculty, staff, and students during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Copyright and licensing matters have played a key role as the UCF Libraries has helped faculty and students navigate the rapid transition from face-to-face courses to online and conducting academic work in a wholly online environment. This article provides a case study of how the UCF Libraries developed an expanded suite of copyright support services and resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will explore how each of these services or resources provided specific support to faculty and students in teaching and learning. Services and resources developed in consultation with the Office of General Counsel include a detailed research guide with information about remote access to resources, including temporary access to licensed content from publishers; a series of professional development online workshops on topics such as copyright, fair use, and emergency circumstances and library support for course materials; and additional opportunities for individual consultation support through virtual office hours and other modes of communication, such as chat, email, and phone. The aim of this article is to provide academic libraries with examples of copyright services from a large metropolitan library during COVID-19 so that they can be used as a model when implementing copyright support at their respective institutions during these exigent circumstances and beyond.

Canadian Collaborations: Library Communications and Advocacy in the time of COVID-19

Christina Winter — 2021-08-27

The COVID-19 pandemic forced libraries to unexpectedly and suddenly close their physical locations, necessitating a remote working environment and a greater reliance on digital and virtual services. While libraries were in a better position than most sectors due to decades of experience in licensing and acquiring digital content and offering virtual services such as chat reference, there still were some services and resources that traditionally had only been offered in a face-to-face environment, or were available in print only. There were questions in the Canadian library community about how, and if these programs could be delivered online and comply with Canadian copyright law. This article will describe the access and copyright challenges that Canadian libraries faced during the first nine months of the pandemic and will outline the collaborative efforts of the Canadian library copyright community to respond to these challenges.

Canada’s Copyright Act Review: Implications for Fair Dealing and Higher Education

Jennifer Zerkee — 2022-05-24

Beginning in late 2017, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU Committee) undertook a statutory review of Canada’s Copyright Act. This article examines the recommendations made by higher education and academic library stakeholders in order to determine their copyright priorities. More specifically, the analysis highlights recommendations relating to fair dealing and addresses the tension between higher education and the Canadian publishing community. The article also explores the three fair dealing recommendations made in the INDU Committee’s final report, raises questions about the INDU Committee’s support for use of fair dealing in higher education, and proposes increased advocacy by the higher education community, including a cohesive strategy that engages directly with the public interest aspect of education’s role and the representation of its user groups. Ultimately, educational institutions are as much a part of the Canadian cultural landscape as any other copyright stakeholder. Improved advocacy is vital as Canada heads towards the next statutory review, expected to be launched in 2022.

Introducing the Copyright Anxiety Scale

Amanda Wakaruk — 2021-09-21

Navigating copyright issues can be frustrating to the point of causing anxiety, potentially discouraging or inhibiting legitimate uses of copyright-protected materials. A lack of data about the extent and impact of these phenomena, known as copyright anxiety and copyright chill, respectively, motivated the authors to create the Copyright Anxiety Scale (CAS). This article provides an overview of the CAS’s development and validity testing. Results of an initial survey deployment drawing from a broad cross-section of respondents living in Canada and the United States (n = 521) establishes that the phenomenon of copyright anxiety is prevalent and likely associated with copyright chill.

Formulating a Scalable Approach to Patron-Requested Digitization in Archives

Kevin S. Hawkins — 2021-06-01

The novel coronavirus of 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has forced archives to rethink their modes of providing access to physical collections. Whereas difficult copyright questions raised by reproducing items could previously be skirted by requiring researchers to work with materials in person, the long-term closure of reading rooms and decrease in long-distance travel mean that archives need a workflow for handling user digitization requests that is scalable and requires consulting only easily identifiable information and, assuming full reproduction is off the table, reproducing items in a collection under 17 U.S.C. § 108 or through a strategy of rapid risk assessment. There is a challenge in creating a policy that will work across different formats and genres of archival materials, so this article offers some suggestions for how to think about these parameters according to US copyright law and calls for a committee of experts to work out a model policy that could serve remote users of archival collections even after the COVID-19 crisis has passed.

Student Selection of Content Licenses in OER-enabled Pedagogy

Katherine Williams — 2021-06-10

Students acting as content creators is an emergent trend in the field of open educational practice. As more faculty turn towards the use of open pedagogy or OER-enabled Pedagogy, they must be prepared to address concerns related to intellectual property rights of student work. This article addresses student concerns related to intellectual property rights, specifically related to Creative Commons licensing as well as faculty awareness of use of Creative Commons licensing. Research was conducted at a small, liberal arts college in the Appalachian Region of the United States. All first-year students engaged in an OER-enabled Pedagogy project where they collaboratively created a reader for the First Year Studies seminar course. Following class, students and faculty were interviewed regarding how dynamics of intellectual property and Creative Commons licensing impacted the educational process. Results indicate students are open to sharing their works with credit, and value helping others. Faculty tend to be unfamiliar with Creative Commons licensing and must balance the desire to help students understand licensing and prescribing their own preferences when asked about licensing selection.

You’ve Opened Your Doors: What’s Next?

Carla S. Myers — 2022-05-18

During the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, when nearly all lending of books and physical materials in the collections of college and research libraries was impossible due to campus closures, many HathiTrust member libraries participated in the Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS). This program permitted patrons of eligible libraries to access—in a limited fashion—a digitized HathiTrust book that corresponded to a physical book held in the collection of the member library. Although the ETAS was closed down after libraries reopened their doors, many libraries are exploring similar “controlled digital lending” services that leverage limitations and exceptions to copyright to support digital access options for patrons.

Opinion: CASE Act will Harm Researchers and Freedom of Inquiry

Sara Benson — 2021-03-18

The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act) was swept into law during the final days of 2020 as a part of the 5,500 page federal spending bill. In theory, the CASE Act aims to provide a venue for individual creators (such as photographers, graphic artists, musicians) to address smaller copyright infringement claims without spending the time and money required to pursue a copyright infringement lawsuit in Federal court. In reality, however, this additional bureaucratic structure created outside of the traditional court system is fraught with problems that will mostly incentivize large, well-resourced rightsholders or overly litigious copyright owners to take advantage of the system. At the same time, it will confuse and harm innocuous users of content, who may not understand the complexities of copyright law, and who do not know whether or how to respond to a notice of infringement via this small claims process. From our perspective, it will chill users who rely on crucial statutory exceptions to copyright, such as fair use, in their research and teaching activities.

Book Review: Helping Library Users with Legal Questions: Practical Advice for Research, Programming, and Outreach

Agnes Gambill West — 2021-12-09

Deborah A. Hamilton’s new book sheds light on the access to justice crisis in the American legal system and illustrates valuable strategies for how libraries can help. Hamilton’s passion for assisting the public with research and discovery of legal information makes her well-suited to share practical advice for research, programming, and outreach related to legal information literacy. Hamilton’s message to readers is clear: libraries can play a significant role in making the justice system more accessible and equitable by providing access to laws and legal information.

Book Review: Library Licensing: A Manual for Busy Librarians

Sandra Aya Enimil — 2021-09-01

Library Licensing: A Manual for Busy Librarians strives to help library staff comprehend library licenses for content and materials. It targets university librarians, but librarians who deal with licenses and agreements in other types of libraries will benefit from the information shared in this work. The book, written by two people (including one with a law degree) with experience at academic institutions, is a quick and straightforward read for librarians who may be new to reviewing contracts and provides thoughtful tips to more seasoned library professionals.

Book Review: Drafting Copyright Exceptions: From the Law in Books to the Law in Action

Chris Morrison — 2021-03-19

Drafting Copyright Exceptions: From the Law in Books to the Law in Action by Emily Hudson is essential reading for anyone responsible for managing copyright in libraries and educational and research institutions. Hudson’s monograph presents insights from thousands of hours of empirical research with hundreds of copyright practitioners in the cultural heritage sector. It reveals important findings about the way that copyright exceptions are interpreted in practice and the implications this has for the formation of norms and the drafting of copyright exceptions.

Book Review: Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide, 6th Edition

Katherine Dickson — 2021-09-08

New for 2021 is the sixth edition of Copyright for Schools: A Practical Guide, by Carol Simpson and Sara E. Wolf. Ms. Simpson is an attorney and former professor of library and information science, with additional experience as a school librarian, teacher, and district library administrator. Ms. Wolf is a professor in Auburn University’s College of Education, with research interests in library media and technology and experience in institutional copyright policy development. The book is designed to address the copyright issues and questions that tend to arise for K-12 teachers, school librarians, and school administrators, though librarians in other contexts such as public libraries and higher education would likely find its contents useful too. The sixth edition updates previous editions by adding content on the copyright implications of streaming video services and cloud computing, issues related to disability, responding to cease-and-desist letters, openly licensed resources and Creative Commons licenses, and the implications of the Music Modernization Act. The latest edition of the book also contains a concordance (a table of legal citations and the principles for which they stand), and more robust legal citations than previous editions.