Copyright Awareness, Partnerships, and Training Issues in Academic Libraries

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Abstract

This article reports on the results of a national survey of academic librarians and library staff (N = 226) in the United States about their awareness of various copyright policies, partnerships with campus groups to address copyright issues, and training needs. A majority of the survey respondents reported that they have answered copyright-related questions in the workplace, yet only 49% (n = 98) of the respondents perceived they were prepared to provide copyright information to library users. Awareness of various copyright policies among librarians and staff members varied, including a reported minimal awareness of the T.E.A.C.H. Act. In addition, survey respondents expressed the desire for more copyright-related training. In light of these findings, the present study extends the existing literature and offers recommendations to help better prepare a “copyright confident” or “copyright responsive” academic library workforce.

Section snippets

Literature Review

In the general copyright literature, much has been written about copyright and “its interpretation and application to higher education” (Albitz, 2013, p. 430). Intellectual property issues have dominated the higher education literature and three key areas in particular that have been prominent among these discussions are “plagiarism, technology transfer, and illegal music downloading” (Albitz, 2013, p. 429). In the academic library context, published studies have included “major attempts to

Methodology

The data presented was obtained from a national survey conducted in November 2012. As stated above, the overall purpose of this study was to gain insight regarding the experiences of academic librarians and library staff in the U.S. with copyright-related services and to identify any training needs related to providing copyright information. To accomplish this, an online questionnaire was utilized to assess awareness of various copyright policies, copyright partnerships on campus, and training

Findings

A total of 226 individuals currently working in academic libraries (N = 226) in the United States responded to the survey. As seen in Table 1, survey respondents included academic librarians (60.6%, n = 123), library administrators (24.1%, n = 49), and library staff members (13.8%, n = 28). The greatest number of survey responses came from those self-identifying as librarians in academic settings (60.6%, n = 123).

A significant portion of survey respondents (93.3%, n = 209) indicated that their current

Discussion and Recommendations

This study was designed to examine awareness of various copyright policies, copyright partnerships on campus, and training issues in academic libraries in the United States. The results of the survey illuminated the perceptions of those working in academic libraries about their ability to provide copyright-related services, level of awareness of copyright policies, range of copyright partnerships on campus, and training issues. To this end, these findings extend the existing literature and

Conclusion

This study is the first to document awareness of specific copyright policies, range of copyright partnerships on campus, and training issues within academic libraries in the United States. While many studies have been done on copyright-related topics in higher education, few have explicitly examined these topics. In order to successfully meet increasing copyright challenges in academic environments, data from this national survey have practical implications for copyright management in academic

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    However Morrison and Secker (2015) reported that though information professionals in the UK were very highly aware of copyright issues 10% of the respondents thought that their services did not require them to be compliant with copyright legislation. Charbonneau and Priehs (2014) also reported that though the majority of academic librarians in the US indicated that they had had to answer questions on copyright in the course of their work, they were not confident to provide copyright information to their clients. Some authorities have argued that to address the age-old challenge of copyright violation in academic libraries among clients librarians, lecturers and libraries themselves, should assist to increase the level of awareness of copyright laws among students (Adeyinka & Oyeyemi, 2017).

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    Though awareness of the copyright laws and policies among academic librarians in Ghana is very high, their level of understanding is only ‘moderate’ to ‘high’ in many instances. The generally lower level of understanding compared to the level of awareness of copyright laws and policies could be due to the fact that the instruction received by graduates of LIS programmes is neither widespread enough, nor is it in-depth enough to prepare LIS graduates for the current demands of the workplace (Charbonneau & Priehs, 2014; Fernández-Molina et al., 2017; Frederiksen, 2016; Schmidt & English, 2015). The current situation is a worrying development for copyright administration in academic libraries in Ghana, and therefore calls for continuous professional education, if academic librarians are to efficiently and effectively play their role as agents of copyright education to the university community.

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    Problems may also arise regarding the norms for the protection of “technological measures”, for instance if we wish to access the contents of a work protected by some DRM (digital rights management) system (Fernández-Molina, 2003; Ginsburg, 2005; Agnew, 2008; Iwahashi, 2011). In short, the traditional conflict between the interests of libraries and their users and those of the copyright holders has been amplified and complicated by digital developments (Dreier, 2001; Ferullo, 2004; Gasaway, 2010; Albitz, 2013; Charbonneau & Priehs, 2014; Hansen, 2014). Not only has digital technology radically transformed how intellectual works are created and disseminated, it has also had a direct impact on copyright law—in recent years it is being modified in the international realm as well as in different national laws.

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