#Copyright Literacy in Higher Education #wlic2017

This is my final liveblog on the mini-conference on Models for Copyright Education in Information Literacy Programs at the 2017 World Library and Information Conference held in the Dolnośląska Szkoła Wyższa (University of Lower Silesia), Wroclaw. There was part 2 of Librarians Teaching Faculty and Students: Copyright Literacy in Higher Education, moderated by Tomas Lipinski.
Armin Talke, Berlin State Library (Germany) talked on Berlin State Library´s Scientific Publishing Program for PhD Students: Copyright and Much More. Although this is not a university library, there is strong use by PhD students and there is demand for support (there have been high profile cases in Germany of people getting caught having plagiarised their PhDs). They have developed 4 modules:
1. General questions (3 hours). This includes landscape of publishing; plagiarism; what you can include in your work legally; where to publish; basics of copyright; financing publications; post-publication e.g. getting book reviews
2. Open Access (2 and a half hours) including licenses, differences between different routes
3. Copyright in images (2 hours) including ways to license and good sources to find images
4. Research Data Management. This includes administration, ethics, legal issues, publishing and finding research data

Janice Pilch, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US) talked on The Scope of Copyright Education. This addressed the issue of what should be included in copyright education. She started by identifying that education is not neutral, with explicit or implicit values, a specific context etc. For example descriptions of copyright by different people/institutions will frame it differently (e.g. as constraining or protecting). The speaker felt that copyright education could be expanded by adopting perspectives from some aspects of the ACRL IL Framework e.g. thinking of metaliteracy, and understanding that information is constructed and contextual.
The traditional scope of copyright education has been about understanding the legal situation and keeping within it. The speaker felt that reaching beyond this, taking a more critical stance, and thinking of the entire copyright ecosystem, would be a welcome step. She noted that the development of the web, and digital industries, had signalled an increased focus on copyright and new types of pressure, lobbying, advocacy etc. The speaker identified that some companies also used academic projects and outputs to give a neutral face to their lobbying. The speaker presented a slide with a whole list of strategies (e.g. "Using "left" modalities to support corporate interests") Therefore she felt that copyright education should include helping people "untangle these strategies". This includes distinguishing between advocacy, education and marketing. She used the example of Marc Ribot who supports musicians' rights: he urged librarians "to make sure that the process of distribution does not destroy the process of creation" (by destroying their ability to make a living). I thought this was a welcome call to think about copyright as not just about obeying the law etc.

Jane Nichols, Oregon State University Libraries and Press (US) talked on Copyright Education and the Undergraduate Student (coauthored with Michaela Hooper). She talked about a Library Skills for literary studies class. Goals included considering social political and economic context of information and knowledge production. One session focuses on author rights, public domain, creative commons licenses and fair use of content. She used Char Booth's instructional design model. You can find information on that model https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2010/04/30/build-your-own-instructional-literacy/
The speaker reflected on the characteristics of the students they teach, often starting with not knowing much about rights. Steps they scaffold start with recalling that copyright applies to do with music and books, then building on that by understanding that copyright is automatic and understand creative commons licensing. The speakers have an exercise at the start of the class to find out where students are in their knowledge of copyright. The speaker emphasised getting students to reflect on examples, and on the teachers also reflecting on their teaching.

I'll mention that I have failed to blog talks by Vincent Bonnet (EBLIDA) on copyright in Europe and by Dick Kawooya on a survey of copyright in the curricula of North American library and information schools. This is because they were run over lunch, and I couldn't blog and eat! However, I think the powerpoints from today's talks may be published and I will blog the link when I get it.
The first picture of particioants today is by me. The second shows Ewa Rozkosz, Lisa Hinchliffe, the university president, Janice Pilch and Tomas Lipinski and was taken by Mirek Antoniewicz