Institutional Copyright Policy Making

Prof. Samuel E. TrosowUniversity of Western OntarioFaculty of Information & Media

Studies Faculty of Law

strosow@uwo.cahttp://samtrosow.wordpress.com

Presentation for Progressive Librarians Guild Roundtable

July 23, 2014

venues of copyright policy-making

1) International treaties /agreements

2) Parliament (Bill C-32 and Bill C-11)

3) Courts: infringement litigation and review of Copyright Board decisions

4) Copyright Board (tariff applications)

5) Local Institutional Policies

Local Copyright Policy-making

institutional policies are an important yet overlooked venue of copyright policy making

often characterized as overly cautious, based on institutional inertia and undue risk-aversion

over-reliance on licensing and permissions persists even post-pentalogy

development and implementation of fair dealing guidelines (compare AUCC, UToronto, UWO and CAUT)

review UWO materials at http://copyright.uwo.ca and compare with AUCC’s

Institutional Policies

Growing importance of campus “Copyright Office”

Kenneth Crews notes that the growing importance of copyright in education and research has led to increase in professional copyright positions – with a

sensitivity to academic freedom and advancement of knowledge

escalated demand for more nuanced understanding of the implication of copyright decisions for research and teaching missions

I would argue that this mix of expertise is situated within the jurisdiction of librarianship and MLIS programs need to step up their copyright curriculum

Institutional Policies

“Copyright Officer”: A New profession?

Crews says a “new profession of the university copyright officer has taken root”

roles and missions vary from campus to campus but Crews reports 30 full time positions at the 100+ leading US research institutions.

Crews stresses that universities HAVE CHOICES which will demonstrate the institutional vision

if interpretations are narrow or rigid, educational opportunities may be lost

Policies can also interfere with academic freedom and risk discouraging creativity

Crews identifies 8 general activities for the office:

Institutional Policies

Diverse Roles of Campus Copyright Office

Crews identifies 8 activities:

1.Institutional Policy Development2.Copyright Education for faculty and others3.Development of information resources4.Negotiating and Drafting Agreements and Licenses5.Dealing with individual transactions/queries6.National and international advocacy7.Original research /conference presentations/publications8.Professional Leadership in associations and events

Institutional Policies

Some general observations /recommendations

While more work needs to be done in this area, I offer some general recommendations:

1.officer must be academic staff (MLIS or eq) with an arms length relationship to admin and with full academic freedom2.copyright education must not be limited to “don’t do this” but must encourage creativity – a broad view of copyright literacy 3.information resources must be user-centric and understandable with sensitivity to needs of different disciplines 4.guidelines / policies must be flexible (not in the nature of “workplace rules”)5.stepped up attention to conflicts in licenses with users rights 6.stronger advocacy needed, esp from associations7.original research / conference presentations/ publications need to be encouraged8.stronger copyright (and privacy) education must be standardized in MLIS curriculum (certification program?)

Institutional Policies

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