Video: Understanding Derivative Works (< 3 minutes)

This video from Artist House Music is a short interview with attorney and professor Maggie Lange talking about "derivative works". She uses the example of "Weird Al" Yankovic using music from Michael Jackson, which seem to work in providing a clear explanation.

Copyright for Information Professionals (IST 735), weeks 10-14

{Because I've copied text in from MS Word, I suspect the fonts below are going to be wonky or inconsistent.  My apologies.}

The semester is over and it is time for me to to finish blogging about the copyright class that I taught this fall...and what I want to talk about are the assignments.

This year, I changed some of the assignments and pushed the students outside of their comfort zone.  For example, I had them create a one-page explanation of a section of the law, with the idea that this explanation would be understandable by anyone.  A few students did theirs as infographs!  The idea around the one-page was for them to understand the law well enough that they could explain it simply.

They also developed a brief on a current copyright issue, wrote about a copyright-related court case, and developed a training plan to be used to train others about copyright.  Some students had not written lesson plans before, which was needed for that last assignment, and so some were really outside of their comfort zone!

What impressed me was that students delved deep into the law and into resources that are available about copyright. The scoured the Internet looking for resources and ideas, and I was amazed at what they found.  There is a lot more good content available on copyright than I realized.  (And I'll be sharing some of them in upcoming blog posts.)  I'm also impressed with their understanding of the law and their ability to communicate it to others, which is not always an easy task.  Yes...I threw them a challenging semester and they thrived in it.

All of these assignments are good pieces for their portfolios.  These pieces demonstrate their knowledge of copyright law; their ability to analyze and write; and their ability to understand how to pass their knowledge onto others.  I know that instruction is a huge need in many libraries, so those training plans can be used to demonstrate that they understand that need and are ready to help meet it. [BTW looking for a soon-to-be MLIS graduate with copyright knowledge?   Let me know.]

Mandatory Readings: (Please excuse any font discrepancies.)

Week #10 - Exerting Your Copy Rights & Copyright Court Cases

• Lawrence Lessig. In Defense of Piracy, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122367645363324303.html
• Title 17, Chapter 5. (This is not the easiest thing to read…)
• U.S. Courts. Structure of the U.S. Courts (1 page) http://www.uscourts.gov/EducationalResources/FederalCourtBasics/CourtStructure/StructureOfFederalCourts.aspx

Week #11 - Copyright and Sound Recordings

• Crews. Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators. Ch. 15.
• Legal Issues Involved in the Music Industry, http://www.law-arts.org/pdf/Legal_Issues_in_the_Music_Industry.pdf
• Comments of Sirius XM Radio, Inc. http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/comments/reply/041413sirius-xm-radio.pdf
• Syracuse University’s statement in response U.S. Copyright Office’s call for testimony concerning the desirability and means of bringing sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, under Federal jurisdiction, http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/comments/initial/20110131-K-Matthew-Dames-Syracuse-University.pdf
• Federal Copyright Protection for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings: Background, http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/

Week #12 - Archives, Risk & Case Study

• Crews. Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators. Ch. 17.
• Hirtle. Copyright and Cultural Institutions. Chapters 10-11

Week #13 - Licensing

• Harris, L.E. (2010). Tips for a successful E-content license. Information Outlook, 14(7), 34-35. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/816449707
• Harris, L. E. (2010). Copyright and licensing: Job growth areas for librarians. Information Outlook, 14(5), 37-37. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/750862665
• Harris, L. E. (2009). Ensuring appropriate conditions of use. Information Outlook, 13(4), 51-52. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197401241
• Harris, L. E. (2008). Licensing digital content: Part I. Information Outlook, 12(7), 50-51. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197408160
• Harris, L. E. (2008). Licensing digital content: Part 2. Information Outlook, 12(8), 42-42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197405694
• Harris, L. E. (2007). Bargaining for information? here's how to get what you need. Information Outlook, 11(2), 38-39. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197404592
• Harris, L. E. (2007). When the negotiations begin, listen carefully, stay on point. Information Outlook, 11(3), 32-33. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197397800
• Harris, L. E. (2005). Digital licensing questions. Information Outlook, 9(6), 62-64. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197368003

Week #14 - Educating Your Colleagues and Users (including library notices), and Staying Up-to-Date

• 3-D Printing Stirs Copyright Clash on Homemade IPhone Gear: Tech, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-08-13/3-d-printing-stirs-copyright-clash-on-homemade-iphone-gear-tech 

Related posts (or a walk through this class):

• Copyright for Information Professionals (IST 735), weeks 5-9
• Copyright for Information Professionals (IST 735), week 4
• Copyright for Information Professionals (IST 735), week 3
• Copyright for Information Professionals (IST 735), weeks 1 & 2

Blog post: Am I a Good Steward of My Own Digital Life?

Reading this Library of Congress blog post, I am reminded that each year I vow to become a better digital steward of my materials.  And each year, I fail to get better.  Why can't I change?  First, the digital life is hidden.  I have to go find it, unlike the pile of photos sitting on the table.  Second, it will take significant mental work to decide how to organize it, and then sort through everything.  It'll be a solo operation and not like a family sorting through a box of photos, where everyone gets involved, even if just for a few moments.

I did make one small step this year, though.  I have setup file folders for my digital photos by year.  While I haven't completely reorganized my photos, I know that putting them into these big buckets will be a step in the right direction.  Maybe I'll get it done over the holidays?

Using Big Data for Library Advocacy (webinar recording)

Erin Bartolo

Yesterday, Dec. 17, Erin Bartolo and I did a one-hour webinar entitled "Using Big Data for Library Advocacy."  This webinar was based on the presentation that we did at the New York Library Association Annual Conference in September.   A recording of the sessions is available on this page, which also contains a link to our handout.  Since this was so what we did at NYLA, I'm placing below the slides from NYLA.

Curating Library Data, Big Data, Data Sets from Jill Hurst-Wahl

One question that we did not receive was about how libraries are currently using big data/data science. I know from the NMC webinar that we did that we don't have good library examples yet, because we (libraries/librarians) are just thinking about how to use data science in our work.  I expect that those examples will come, as we begin using big data to help us with assessment and advocacy.  For now, we need to talk about what is possible and get people interested in using these techniques, which are already widely used in business.

Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation: An NDSA Report

Staffing is important and often we're not sure about what we need in terms of skills or people. This report helps to provide information on staffing for digital preservation.  It was co-authored by:

• Winston Atkins, Duke University Libraries
• Andrea Goethals, Harvard Library
• Carol Kussmann, Minnesota State Archives
• Meg Phillips, National Archives and Records Administration
• Mary Vardigan, Inter‐university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

According to the blog post about it, this report "shares what we learned by surveying 85 institutions with a mandate to preserve digital content about how they staffed and organized their preservation functions." 

NMC On the Horizon > Big Data (webinar recording)

In November, I had the honor of participating in the New Media Consortium webinar on big data.  The event was recorded and is now available through YouTube. Information on all of the presenters is available on the NMC web site.  Thanks to Dr. Ruben Puentedura for moderating the event and to the NMC staff for their coordination.




This webinar used the Google+ On Air platform and was broadcasted live on YouTube. For me, it was very interesting to do a webinar in this way.  For example, how do you interrupt or get the attention of the moderator?  (Obviously, waving doesn't work!)  I'm used to other platforms that have a bit more functionality, yet I have to admit that this worked amazingly well.