Copyright Slider now available free online

Those of you who attended my copyright session at the '08 AkLA conference or stopped by the Copyright Advisory Network (CAN) poster session may remember the copyright sliders made available by the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy. These handy tools simplify the process of determining whether or not a work is in the public domain, and they were quite popular. Well, if you didn't get one at conference, or even if you did, you are now in luck: they are now available online!

To use the digital sliders, simply use your mouse to drag the red arrow to the year (or range) when the item in question was published or written, and it will let you know if it is under copyright, in the public domain, or (alas, even here) maybe either. It also provides information on any caveats or other information you may need to know.

If the slider doesn't answer your copyright questions, try checking out the CAN website.

Copyright for classes

In the Copyright Q&A session at conference, one topic that we discussed was that of using materials for classes, over a period of time. This might involve multiple copies for classroom use or course reserves (paper or electronic). We discussed how the traditional interpretation of this practice was that it was fine for a single class, but not allowable over time, that is, each semester or even each year. Now, I've just read a discussion on the Copyright Advisory Network (CAN) forum which seems to imply that our interpretation may have been too restrictive. It might be valuable for academic and school librarians to take a look at this discussion. And, if you have something more to add or ask, I encourage anyone who's interested to register (it's quick and easy - more to discourage spam than anything else) and comment. While you're at it, check out some of the other resources at the site, and please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvement (either email me or mention it in the comments to this post).

Copyright resource for educators

In the Copyright Q & A, at conference, someone asked about resources for teaching copyright to elementary or high school students. I didn't have much to offer, because the basic resources that I've seen are either very dry or very biased. I mentioned this on the forum at the Copyright Advisory Network. There, Carrie Russell of the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy suggested a neat resource: ReadWriteThink, a service of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. When I did a search on copyright, I got some great copyright lessons, mostly geared towards grades 6-12. Check it out!