The 2012-2013 year was my first full year as a librarian at MSU. I have spent this last year continuing my training for my position as Assistant Copyright Librarian, including pursuing a Certificate in Copyright Management and Leadership; acquiring additional responsibilities; and building my professional career through activities such as volunteering for committees and finding publication and presentation opportunities.
This past year, I have been able to expand my responsibilities as the Assistant Copyright Librarian. In March 2012, I met with Jon Harrison to learn about purchasing books through Gobi and I now purchase books for the Library Office of Copyright’s in-office reference collection. In May 2012, I met with Christine Tobias to learn about using libguides. I have created two of my own libguides, one on copyright (libguides.lib.msu.edu/copyright) and the other on Turnitin and iThenticate (libguides.lib.msu.edu/Turnitin) and I maintain a guide on copyright books at the library (libguides.lib.msu.edu/copyrt) that was created by Kate Corby. I also created a blog for Copyright News which I update with appropriate stories regarding copyright, placing an emphasis on issues that relate to education.
Working in copyright requires specialized knowledge to properly understand the law and what is and is not allowable under specific exemptions. I had been cultivating my own knowledge by reading books and articles on this topic and attending webinars on copyright in libraries and educational institutions, but to gain adequate expertise, a more formal education is required. I enrolled in the Center for Intellectual Property’s Certificate in Copyright Management and Leadership in order to expand upon my self-taught knowledge of copyright. This certificate program consisted of one mandatory eight-week course, Foundations in Copyright Management and Leadership, and a two-week elective. For my elective, I selected Fair Use and Licensing, since this is the most relevant topic for my position.
The Foundations course provided a comprehensive introduction to copyright law, relevant legal cases, and understanding how and when to take advantage of exemptions such as section 107 (fair use) and section 108 (exemptions for libraries and archives). This intensive course required students to participate in the discussion boards, answering specific questions and responding to the comments of our peers; attend weekly synchronous online lectures; read many articles and book chapters on the week’s topic; analyze our own institution’s copyright policy; and create an online copyright educational tool. The educational tool that I created was a libguide on copyright. This useful guide presents users with an introduction to copyright law, such as what can and cannot be protected and how long protection lasts, as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act . It also covers topics such as the public domain, fair use, and reproduction of materials by libraries and archives. I provided users with helpful links to public domain images and MSU-specific resources, as well as where to go to get more help.
The elective on Fair Use and Licensing delved deeper into these two important topics that were only briefly covered in the foundations course. Fair use is an incredibly broad and vague exemption in copyright law and one has to understand how to use your judgment to make an appropriate decision when it comes to understanding if something could be argued under fair use, or not. Fair use consists of four factors: purpose and character of the use, nature of the work, the amount used (both qualitative and quantitative), and effect on the market. In order to decide if you can argue that a use is a fair use, and thus probably does not need copyright permission, you have to analyze the use in terms of these four factors and use your judgment to determine if a strong fair use case could be made in the event of a lawsuit, or if the case is weak and it would be safest to ask permission. Along with analyzing the use itself, one also has to be able to analyze the risk involved in the use. This activity is called risk assessment and the purpose behind it is to understand the amount of risk involved in each use (for example posting something on the open web is more likely to be discovered and thus more risky than using the same copyrighted material in a face-to-face class) and to consider how much risk you and your institution are willing to accept.
Since so much of the content that we use is online, educators often find themselves wondering if their use of a work would fall under fair use or if they need to get a license for the use. This course discussed how to make this decision as well as how to understand and use the Creative Commons licensing system. Licensing ones work under Creative Commons is growing in popularity and it is important for users to understand the rights afforded to them under each license so that they select the appropriate license for their work because once you pick one, you cannot change it later.
As I have become more confident in my ability to answer questions regarding copyright, under the guidance of the Copyright Librarian, Amy Blair, I have been answering questions that are received by the Library Office of Copyright. I am currently working on redesigning the copyright webpages to make them more useable and helpful to the MSU community. Changes include more questions on the Commonly Asked Questions About Copyright page that will answer more questions about copyright issues in online education, such as the use of YouTube videos, using images found on the web, and understanding Creative Commons licensing. Amy and I have also been working on developing online self-paced training modules in ANGEL on copyright. We are also working on a course for Human Resources Development, “Copyright Confidence,” which we are teaching at the end of April. It is important that we spread information and encourage copyright literacy on campus in order to help educate faculty and staff on using third-party materials legally, which in turn will help mitigate risk of copyright infringement lawsuits against the university. To help promote the newly developed Office of Copyright, I helped staff the Office of Copyright’s table at the faculty resource fair.
In November 2012, MSU began a three-year pilot program using Turnitin and iThenticate. Turnitin is a writing tool that is integrated with our learning management systems, ANGEL and Desire2Learn (D2L). Its purpose is to improve student writing by showing both the students and their instructors the types of sources that are being used in the student’s paper. It also helps students to learn how to properly cite their resources since this program detects text that is similar to the writings of others and highlights the similar or identical text. iThenticate is for faculty, staff, and graduate students users. Users can upload their documents, such as articles that they plan to submit for publication or grant proposals, and iThenticate checks the writing to highlight text that is similar to other published or internet works so that users can see any errors with their citations or other omissions that could be deemed as plagiarism. Since many publishers and grant funding agencies now use iThenticate, it is in the best interest of our authors to use this tool themselves so that they can fix any text that may be highlighted as being too similar to other published works.
In September 2012, a Turnitin trainer came to MSU to train those of us who will be working with these tools. I attended this training session because I am the Turnitin and iThenticate trainer for LCTTP. I created MSU-specific help documentation for both of these products and also created a libguide (libguides.lib.msu.edu/Turnitin) to help explain the purpose of these products and provide an overview of their features. On February 4, 2013, I taught a Turnitin and iThenticate class to MSU librarians and LearnDAT staff members. On February 6, 2013, I taught my first course for LCTTP on these products. I have more classes scheduled for the spring and summer and will also teach during faculty seminars in May. I have also presented at two reference meetings about these tools. It is important to keep other librarians, especially those with liaison responsibilities, informed about tools and services that the university offers so that librarians can properly promote these tools and speak knowledgably about them to their faculty.
My secondary assignment is in Reference and I spend approximately six to nine hours a week providing reference services, either in-person or virtually through chat or email. I enjoy being able to assist users with utilizing our resources. This year, I also helped staff the library’s table at the AOP resource fair. I spoke with incoming freshmen and their parents about what the MSU Libraries have to offer and explained that the library is far more than just a place to get books. This outreach activity is an important way to introduce new students to the many great things that the libraries have to offer. By reaching out at an early stage of their academic careers, we are fostering a relationship that will grow throughout their careers.
The Research Data Management Guidance (RDMG) team of which I am a member has been very active this year. In May 2012, we started a community for advising, facilitating and enabling (CAFÉ) for Research Data Management (RDM) and I am the leader of this campus-wide group. We hold quarterly meetings to discuss topics related to research data management and strive to create a strong network of research data service providers across campus. As leader of the CAFÉ, I facilitate our meetings and lead our conversations. I also maintain our listserv and forum page and with the assistance of the rest of the RDMG team, solicit our networks for appropriate presenters for our CAFÉ meetings.
One result of this CAFE and the work of the RDMG team is the creation of a service provider list that enables service providers and researchers to easily discover who offers what service related to research data, such as short-term storage for their data. This list will make it easier for researchers to find out where to go for further assistance and will also allow service providers to refer researchers to appropriate groups.
This year has been a busy one for me and unfortunately, as more pressing commitments arose, some of my projects unfortunately fell by the wayside. An example of this is my progress on the CD Masters project that I am working on for the DMC. I was unable to commit much time to this project this past year and I plan on remedying this for the upcoming year. I am working on improving my time management so that I will be able to devote time to all of my projects. By monitoring my time more carefully and trying to allot equal amounts of time to all of my projects every week, I should be able to get back on track with this project and hopefully finish it for this upcoming year.
SELF EVALUATION of SCHOLARLY AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES:
Articles
“Live like a librarian!” Insights, May 2012
This is a report on a session that I attended at ALA Midwinter in Seattle.
Book Chapters in Progress
“Copyright in Academic Libraries: The Future is Now.” Emerging Roles for Academic Librarians.
Co-authored with Amy Blair and set to be published mid to late 2013. For this chapter, I conducted a literature review on copyright librarianship. I then discussed my experiences as a new librarian and new copyright librarian and offered tips and advice on how a librarian can learn about copyright.
Presentations and Workshops
Copyright Issues for Historic Collections. Presented with Portia Vescio from MSU Archives for the Historical Society of Michigan, August 17, 2012.
On August 17, 2012, Portia Vescio from University Archives and I presented a half-day workshop on copyright issues for historic collections for the Historical Society of Michigan. Approximately 25 people showed up for this workshop that discussed the basics of copyright law, as well as copyright and privacy issues that archivists may encounter when working with their collections. This is an important issue that needs to be emphasized to those working with these collections because of potential legal implications if copyright and privacy issues are ignored, regardless of whether they are ignored on purpose or out of ignorance. This proved to be a popular topic and the Historical Society of Michigan has invited us to present on this topic again in December 2013.
Meeting Students in Their Own Spaces and Guiding Them to Ours: The Changing Landscape of Undergraduate Library Service. Presented with Rachel Minkin for the MSU lifelong library faculty emeriti series, October 19, 2012.
Rachel Minkin and I presented to a group of emeriti faculty on the changing environment for education and how our library has adapted to this largely online learning environment in a session entitled Meeting Students in Their Own Spaces and Guiding Them to Ours: The Changing Landscape of Undergraduate Library Service. This presentation highlighted the changing academic landscape and the new emphasis on the use of technology in the classroom and how the library and the services offered are responding to these changes.
Exhibits
Retracing the Unsinkable: Remembering the 100th Anniversary of the Titanic Disaster. Main Library, 2 West display case. Produced with Holly Flynn. April-July 2012.
Coursework Taken
Certificate in Copyright Management and Leadership. University of Maryland University College’s Center for Intellectual Property. Completed February 2013.
This online certificate program required that I complete one mandatory course, Foundations in Copyright Management and Leadership, and one elective on Fair Use and Licensing. These courses helped expand my knowledge of copyright law and copyright exceptions through readings, lectures, guest speakers, assignments, and class discussion.
Continuing Education
“Be a Tourist – Tech Services.” MSU Libraries, April 12, 2012.
“Embedded Librarians: Integrating Information Literacy Instruction at the Point of Need.” Webinar sponsored by ACRL. MSU Libraries, May 1, 2012
Criticism is Not a Four-Letter Word: Best Practices for Constructive Feedback in the Peer Review of Teaching.” Webinar from LOEX 2012 Encore. MSU Libraries, May 31, 2012.
“Yes You Can Do-It-Yourself: Materials Production Techniques for Library Exhibits.” MSU Libraries, July 25, 2012.
“Kirtsaeng v. Wiley and the Threat to Library Lending: First Sale, Foreign Textbooks, and the Supreme Court Case That Threatens Library Lending.” Webinar sponsored by ARL. MSU Libraries, October 16, 2012.
“Copyright in Motion: Mobile Technology.” Webinar sponsored by the Copyright Clearance Center. MSU Libraries, October 24, 2012.
“Copyright in Motion: Copyright in the Cloud.” Webinar sponsored by the Copyright Clearance Center. MSU Libraries, December 5, 2012.
“Copyright in Academia.” Webinar sponsored by the Copyright Clearance Center. MSU Libraries, December 6, 2012.
Rebecca Welzenbach. “Beyond the Facsimile: Early English Books Online and Text Creation Partnership.” MSU Libraries, January 22, 2013.
“Copyright, Licensing, and the Law of E-Books.” Webinar. MSU Libraries, February 6, 2013.
“Copyright and Fair Use: Compliance Guidelines for Faculty.” Webinar. MSU Libraries, February 14, 2013.
“Copyright and Faculty Rights: Faculty Ownership of Copyright.” Webinar. MSU Libraries, February 28, 2013.
Mentoring
M.E.N.T.O.R.S Program participant
I participated in the M.E.N.T.O.R.S. program from May 2011-May 2012. I mentored under Portia Vescio and Cynthia Ghering. This mentoring relationship helped me to expand my professional network which also presenting me with an opportunity to create and run a workshop on copyright for the Historical Society of Michigan.
New Librarians Round Table participant
Nancy Lucas created a group for the newer librarians to supplement the M.E.N.T.O.R.S. program. This group meets monthly and discusses topics that are of interest to newer librarians, such as myself. Topics have included finding publishing opportunities, how to write self-evaluations, and the reappointment/continuing appointment system.
Upcoming Year
For the upcoming year, I am working together with the Office of Copyright on creating an exhibit for the Main Library for April in honor of April being Copyright Awareness month. We are also developing a course for Human Resources Development on “Copyright Confidence,” which I have discussed earlier. I, along with Amy Blair, spent a lot of time during the 2012-2013 year writing a chapter on copyright librarianship for the book Emerging Roles for Academic Librarians, which should be published in mid-2013. For this book, we provided a discussion of what it means to be a copyright librarian, including a literature review on the subject, and detailed our own experiences as copyright librarians. My section focused on my experiences as a new librarian and how to deal with being new to the profession and getting up to speed on such a weighty topic like copyright. I have also volunteered to be an Endnote trainer and I will begin teaching courses this summer/fall. I hope to pursue more publication and presentation opportunities and also find ways to become more involved with the professional organizations that I belong to.
SELF EVALUATION of SERVICE AND/OR PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
MSU Libraries and Campus-Wide
Library Staff Association
Treasurer, 2012-2014
Library Steering Committee
Member, 2012-2014
Research Data Management Guidance (RDMG) team
Member, February 2012-Present
This team is a joint effort between the library and University Archives and we provide research data management assistance, such as writing a data management plan for a grant proposal, to MSU-affiliated individuals.
Research Data Management (RDM) CAFÉ (Community for Advising, Facilitating and Enabling)
Leader, May 2012-Present
The Research Data Management team created this CAFÉ in order to facilitate a campus conversation about research data management and the RDM services that are available to researchers. As leader of this CAFÉ, I facilitate our quarterly meetings, which I plan with the assistance of the other members of the RDMG team.
Professional Associations and Activities
Michigan Library Association (MLA)
Member of the Michigan Author Award Committee 2012-2013
As part of this committee, I evaluate the published works of nominated Michigan authors in order to select a winner for this award.
Michigan Library Association Leadership Orientation
July 27, 2012, East Lansing, MI
I attended this orientation session in order to learn about serving on MLA committees. I was also able to meet and begin working with my fellow committee members for the Michigan Author Award Committee.
American Library Association (ALA)
Attended ALA Annual Conference, June 22-25, 2012 in Anaheim, CA
Attended ALA Midwinter Conference, January 25-29, 2013 in Seattle, WA
Member of the Endnotes Committee for the New Members Round Table (NMRT)
As a member of this committee, I assist with editing and peer-reviewing articles submitted to NMRT’s peer-reviewed electronic journal, Endnotes.
Michigan Virtual Reference Service Annual Meeting; Research Help Now
Attended this annual meeting on April 13, 2012 at Washtenaw Community College to learn more about our cooperative chat network, Research Help Now, and to learn best practices in chat reference.
CIC, Center for Library Initiatives Annual Conference. Finding Our Way: Collaborative Strategies for Developing Geospatial Services
May 15-16, 2012, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
I was selected, along with three other MSU librarians, to attend this conference because of my interest in data, especially data management.
Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)
December 2011 – Present
Center for Intellectual Property
Member, 2012 – Present