Abstract
Despite the importance placed on copyright and intellectual property literacy by the American Library Association, as evidenced in the accreditation standards, issues pertaining to copyright education remain marginal in the library and information science (LIS) curriculum and research. Today, copyright intersects with every library and information service in any type of information institution, yet few librarians get copyright training as part of the formal LIS curriculum in library schools. Lack of copyright education leaves many librarians unable to properly identify and address copyright issues in the workplace. This paper offers a critical analysis of LIS programs over the past 10–12 years with a specific focus on trends in the teaching of copyright matters. Employing a qualitative methodology with a mixed-method approach, the authors analyzed the syllabi of courses dedicated to copyright and intellectual property offered at select LIS programs. The goal was to understand what the copyright courses cover, how they are taught, instructional sources and resources, and curriculum changes over time, where applicable. Findings show that the few LIS programs offering copyright courses have rigorous and dynamic copyright curriculum that constantly changes with the evolving copyright environment. The main takeaway and recommendation is that some kind of coordination is needed in the teaching of copyright and that LIS programs may need minimum standards for the core curriculum of copyright courses. The coordinating mechanism will ensure that periodic review of the core curriculum occurs and takes into account the rapid changes in the different library environments where library students work.
Highlights
The proliferation of digital content and services has thrust copyright into the mainstream areas of library and information services
Research Questions In this study the authors focused on the following questions: a) What key areas are covered in the library and information science (LIS) copyright courses? b) How has the copyright curriculum in LIS programs changed to address the evolving environment? c) What major topics are copyright courses not covering or not covering sufficiently? d) What would the ideal model for copyright education be in the United States?
D) What would the ideal model for copyright education be in the United States? To answer the research questions the authors went beyond the cursory programlevel analysis of copyright courses, as was the case with Schmidt and English (2015)
Summary
The proliferation of digital content and services has thrust copyright into the mainstream areas of library and information services. From guiding college students who routinely download copyrighted content to faculty research and teaching, librarians play an important role in mitigating copyright infringement while remaining true to their core function of providing access to information. In the absence of units on campus dedicated to educating students and faculty about copyright and digital content, the university library has become a natural home for copyright-literacy programs aimed at educating the campus community about copyright law (Charbonneau & Priehs, 2014; Quartey, 2007). Providing librarians with quality copyright education in library and information science (LIS) programs is the most effective and efficient way of preparing future librarians for the ever-changing copyright environment in the workplace. University of Michigan Intellectual Property and Information Law. University of Hawaii Copyright and at Mānoa
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