Few subjects spark more disagreement and confusion than copyright. The authors of the 2007 report "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy" coined the term "hyper-comply" to describe how many information professionals respond to copyright. According to the study by American University's Center for Social Media, educators often…

In light of a decision by members of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences to make access to their scholarly papers free, advocates of open access celebrated, but some publishers expressed concern. Members of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted unanimously to provide the university with copies of their published articles and…

The growth of open access publishing, the development of institutional repositories, and the availability of millions of digitized monographs and journals are rapidly changing scholarly communication. This case study looks at the current and possible uses of these tools by Michigan's three largest universities: Michigan State University, the…

Reviews copyright legislation and its impact since 1998 from the perspective of education professionals affected primarily as intellectual property users. Offers pertinent historical and philosophical context and stresses the importance of balance between intellectual property ownership and its fair and other exceptional uses. (Author/LRW)

Prepared at the request of the American Library Association by its attorneys, this article discusses federal copyright law as it pertains to musical performances in libraries. Guidelines are presented for determining whether a license from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) or any other performing rights…

Discusses the "fair use" section of the copyright law that allows teachers to use specific types of materials under certain conditions without obtaining permission from the copyright holders and the impact that the advances in technology have had on the uses and abuses of copyrighted materials. (JRH)

The edited transcript of the Copyright Panel at the 9th Information Retrieval Colloquium is presented. In addition to the panel presentation and audience discussion, this issue carries, as appendix material, some of the documents which sparked much of the current copyright debate. (Author/NH)

In this article, the author discusses the issues surrounding the production of lecture videos by professors and administrators which are free to the world. Professors across the country are now wrestling with this issue. More and more colleges have installed microphones or cameras in lecture halls and bought easy-to-use software to get lecture…

This report accompanies H.R. 897, the Copyright Reform Act of 1993. The bill, intended to amend title 17, United States Code, to modify certain recordation and registration requirements, to establish copyright arbitration royalty panels to replace the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, and for other purposes, is favorably reported by the Committee on the…

This paper examines the third fair use standard in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act--"the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole"--as it applies to copying for extended classroom uses such as library reserve. The guidelines are interpreted in terms of amount, substantiality,…

This study analyzed the knowledge levels of Ohio's postsecondary educators regarding copyright and copyright related issues. A stratified random sample of 62 postsecondary educators from public and private colleges who taught Web-based courses participated in the study. The study used two instruments: a copyright questionnaire about knowledge of…

Examines issues related to copyright and how they affect the creation, protection, and distribution of multimedia materials. Topics discussed include a definition of copyright, the relevance of copyright, the concept of fair use, derivative and collective works, copyright and constitutional law, and information guides to copyright issues. (10…

Contains two articles: (1) excerpts from testimony by the chairperson of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) regarding copyright law revisions; and (2) a statement by the Council on Library Resources (CLR) Board of Directors regarding the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights' report on copyright law and…

School library websites enhance and explain the services provided by the library. Most schools have a library website. Jurkowski (2004) reviewed thirty-four school library websites and ranked the most common features: website links, databases, policies, Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), and websites by subject. These features give patrons a…

Selective archiving of Web sites in Australia has been under way since 1996. This approach has seen carefully selected sites preserved after site owners granted permission. The labor-intensive nature of this process means only a small number of sites can ever be acquired in this manner. An alternate approach is an automated…