School librarians work with a variety of individuals; the largest groups are usually made up of students (most often K-12, but perhaps also preschoolers), teachers, and administrators. However, it is also possible that school staff, students' parents and guardians, and even the community at large might participate in school library functions and…

Copyright protects the users, creators and owners of expressive works such as paintings, literature, video and music. It does this by setting the rules governing the reproduction of such works. One of these rules is that in certain circumstances it is lawful to reproduce works (or parts of works) without permission or payment. The purpose of this…

Copyright is extremely complex, and it is difficult to convey its complexities in a clear and concise form. Through decades of experience, archivists developed informal best practices for dealing with copyright in the analog world; however the application of copyright in the digital environment is evolving in response to rapidly changing…

Intellectual property rights restrict teachers' and students' ability to freely explore the intellectual realms of the classroom. Copyright laws protect the author and their work but disable other intellectuals from investigating probable learning environments. This paper will look at key issues where educational institutions are conflicting with…

Within the context of "Cambridge University Press et al. v. Patton et al.", this article provides the rationale for the academic distribution of scholarly articles without requesting copyright permission or paying the corresponding fees. The fair use of scholarly articles is examined legally, historically, and in an economic context. This article…

Foreign students often have different conceptions of copyright than do American students. This article summarizes Thailand's Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994). Also included are guidelines for fair use from a Thai university, as well as a literature review discussing copyright issues in Taiwan and Japan.

In this paper, the authors present some of the most important lessons they have learned from teaching courses, conducting workshops, writing articles, and supervising graduate student research on the educational uses of digital storytelling. The guidelines described here are categorized within the ADDIE instructional design framework and are…

Campus librarians play a central role in conversations revolving around copyright compliance. The sheer volume of information provided within library physical and virtual spaces affirms the role libraries play in current copyright debates. Regardless of the function of librarians on any particular campus, it is important to confront the myriad of…

Open licences are critical for defining Open Educational Resources. The goal of this article is to explain the logic of open licensing to teachers, funders, and educational policy-makers--to explain the relatively simple but vital considerations that are necessary to build this global educational commons of free learning material. In particular,…

Current copyright law was formulated before the digital technology became widely available and well before Web 2.0 changed the way that information is created and shared. J. Patrick McGrail and Ewa McGrail argue that copyright law has failed to keep up with the social and legal changes that have accompanied the technological developments of the…

Those who come in contact with students at the post-secondary level face a myriad of potential legal challenges in their interactions with students and others. All members of the academic community should be familiar with the more common legal issues and to plan accordingly to avoid future problems. This article explores FERPA in the classroom,…

Understanding the tenets of copyright in general, and in particular, in online communication and publishing with Web 2.0 tools, has become an important part of literacy in today's Information Age, as well as a cornerstone of free speech and responsible citizenship for the future. Young content creators must be educated about copyright law, their…

In a 2008 survey of students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 82 percent of undergraduate respondents said they preferred courses with online lecture content, and 60 percent said they would even be willing to pay for lecture capture services. Colleges and universities that have gone down the lecture capture path have found four essential…

Offers guidelines for the digital publication of human speech on Web sites. Topics include copyright law, where spoken words are generally treated as text; exceptions, including news programs, preservation, recordings for the blind, and public domain; and fair use. (Contains 13 references.) (Author/LRW)

A discussion and summary of landmark court cases involving the fair use clause of copyright law provide numerous guidelines that encourage legitimate fair use of copyrighted materials. Emphasizes implications for librarians and others within higher education. (Author/LRW)