New Book: Compact Copyright: Quick Answers to Common Questions

I haven't written a blog post in a while, although I have several in draft form. October was a busy month and I'll be saying more about that busyness soon. For now, I want to be sure you know about this book from Sara R. Benson, which was published in September.

The ALA Store describes Compact Copyright: Quick Answers to Common Questions as:

Focusing on copyright topics that arise frequently, including the right of first sale, fair use, and copying for preservation, this book will help library workers provide quick guidance for common situations.

Faculty, students, and colleagues come to you with copyright questions, both simple and complex. And they all want reliable answers—as fast as you can get them. With this guide, designed for ready access, you’ll be prepared to deliver. Lawyer, copyright librarian, and iSchool instructor Benson presents succinct explanations ideal for both on-the-fly reference and staff training. Copyright specialists will appreciate excerpts from the law itself alongside tools and resources for digging deeper. Practical discussions of key legal concepts, illustrated using 52 scenarios, will lead you to fast, accurate answers on a range of topics, such as

• barriers to using the TEACH Act provisions in content for online teaching;
• showing a full-length movie in a university class;
• public domain and the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act;
• your legal options when receiving a DMCA take-down notice;
• court interpretations of fair use in three key recent cases;
• Creative Commons licenses, complete with a quick reference chart;
• library rights to license photographs in a digital collection;
• using letters under copyright in a special collections display case;
• a grad student’s right to use in a thesis writing published in their professor’s journal article;
• applying the implied license option to post historical student dissertations in institutional repositories;
• the Marrakesh Treaty provision supporting transfer of accessible works internationally; and
• limiting factors for interlibrary loan.

This 176-page book is available through the ALA Store and Amazon (paid link).

Sara R. Benson is a respected voice in regards to copyright and a frequent contributor to the conversations which surround it, including being a speaker and podcaster. She is currently the copyright librarian and an assistant professor at the Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.