What You Don’t Know About Copyright, but Should

By Jennifer Howard

If Nancy Sims had to pick one word to describe how researchers, students, and librarians feel about copyright, it would probably be “confused.”

A lawyer and a librarian, Ms. Sims is copyright-program librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries. She’s there to help people on campus and beyond—both users and owners of protected material—understand their rights.

“I’m not sure anybody has a very good knowledge” of copyright, she says.

For instance, in a recent informal survey she conducted at the university, only 30 percent or so of the faculty respondents knew the answers to basic questions such as how one gets a copyright and how long it lasts. (Librarians did somewhat better.)

Continued at: http://chronicle.com/article/What-You-Dont-Know-About/127706/

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