Perceptions of LIS Professionals towards Copyright Constrains for Resources Use for MOOCs

Abstract

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is becoming a hot topic in every field including the library and information science domain and presenting different opportunities with some constrains such as violation of copyright law and other legal issues in creation of MOOCs. Thus, library and information science professionals are taking interest in MOOC and trying their best to overcome from these constrains. This study presents the perceptions of library and information science professionals towards overcoming copyright constrains of resources to be used in creation of MOOC and reveals that majority of library and information science professionals who participated in this survey are working in academic libraries on librarian designation, knowing about copyright law and its policies, especially in context of use of resources in online environments, familiar with getting copyright solutions for paid e-resources and for open access resources available in public domain, knowing that copyright constrain is a main barrier through websites, able to create awareness by providing guidelines regarding copyright law and fair use, able to resolve the copyright constrains by searching, gathering and providing subject-specific e-resources available in public domain and by developing a forum for MOOC activities and playing important roles in resolving copyright constrains to full extent. This study may be usefulfor knowing perceptions of library and information professionals who are working in different libraries towards overcoming copyright constrains in development of MOOCs.