Musing on copyright

Some later tests in using infographics (photo updated Jan 19)

Yesterday (I mean Friday as I wrote this on a Saturday morning) like many days at work, especially during the first week of term time (we are now in what is called Hilary Term), was very busy.

I have a new ERASMUS assistant, since Monday, and most of my time is spent with him, showing him enough in that first week so that he will start to be helpful from week 2 onwards for some basic stuff, such as registering students in ALEPH, our library system and finding class textbooks for those who have not yet purchased them, or who cannot afford to purchase them.

THE COPYRIGHT VIDEO PROJECT (SCREENCAST)

We are having a project, set by the new Head of Modern Languages, to create copyright help on video (probably with screencasts). True, the text I have written in WebLearn (our Virtual Learning Environment) is perhaps not enough. I have also written, helped by the Director of the Language Centre, a presentation on Powerpoint on "good practice for scanning in the VLE" (which is the same presentation I gave in our In-House conference in Michaelmas Term (October-December term).

So this week, amongst other things, I have started drawing mind maps to make sure that all important points will not be forgotten in the video. Another point will be to say the strict minimum (la substantifique moelle as Rabelais would say) so that the video would not age too quickly. (or perhaps we could choose a video making tool in web 2.0 that would allow us to edit).

I have decided to start with a video to help with making photocopies. This would be the easiest, in term of things to do (there is no need for example, to fill in a CLA notice for making photocopies).
So here are my mind-maps: [sorry photo is gone!]

This is a mindmap made from the CLA User Guidelines (above) and this is the mindmap for all the points to be included in the video that we will make (below): [sorry photo is gone!]

On the web, I saw great things, in particular from the University of Bournemouth: fantastic video style, funny and informative at the same time.

For example the Copyright Exception video
or the Libraries, Archives and Orphan Works

But already, some points are now obsolete (in the first video: it is legal in the UK to copy from your purchased CD onto your MP3 player, in the second video: it is legal to make some copies of Audio-visual material ).

Also, though the videos give great information but we are looking for something more practical.

Closer to home, there is the excellent work done by the SSL (Social Science Library) with the following video:

Copying in the library

Again, a key point there is now obsolete: it is not 5%, it is 10% that you have the right to copy from.


Our audience is: Modern Language Tutors, from 12 different countries, 12 different sensibilities to copyright, 12 different levels of English (from B2 ? upper-intermediate to C2 advanced levels).

I also watched the CLA videos. Same again, great visuals, but it is not very practical either.
Such as this video Tell us what you copy

So our video will be close in spirit to the presentation on powerpoint: step by step guidance, as simple as possible, but of course not simplistic. Copyright is no easy matter!

ANSWERING TUTORS' QUERIES

It is also no easy matter to be able to answer Tutors' queries on the spot. In the old days, I could have phoned the Copyright Librarian (Mike Heaney) or even he could have popped in the Language Centre. Now I can ask a query to the Copyright Librarian who is free-lance, or I can ask LIS-COPYSEEK, a wonderful JISC-mail, where all the Copyright Librarians of the UK can participate. Because the law is not enough, there is a lot of case-by-case thinking to be done (and I believe, as far as I know, from my brief time as a law library assistant, that most UK law is like this).

Or, quite simply, I trust myself sufficiently to answer in the short-time given. Tutors are constructing their course materials for this term, and they expect me to answer here and now. It is of me to decide: can I answer here and now, or do I need more time? (checking with others, or quite simply, spending some time in the Law Library to read the latest book on copyright) Yesterday, out of the two copyright queries, one was easy,  it related to CLA scanning but the Tutor was confused. Indeed, the way the textbook was, with one chapter every two pages, make her think that she could not scan more than one chapter. ie two pages.
Before answering that, I did the usual check: is the book included in the CLA database ? We searched in the search option (show image) and it would not show.

As the book was printed in Spain, I went to the "international territories" page and checked the permissions for Spain. Permission to scan? Yes.

Then it was easy: you can scan up to one chapter or 10% of the book, whichever is greater. So yes, the Tutor did not have to worry that the chapters were really short, and she could scan the four pages she wanted to scan.
 
The second query, I thought, was easy-ish. But I realised later in the day that I answered wrongly to that one. And quite frankly I am not 100% sure my answer is the best one. It is however an answer that appears right to me, and that I believe I could explain should we have a CLA audit.

The query was relating to a Tutor who did not scan from a book but did type up to two pages from the book. First of all the book belonged to her and not the library. So I told her I had to purchase the book in all haste as only library books can be scanned from. Then I realised that I ought to do a search on SOLO, our library catalogue, to see if another library at Oxford University has a copy. We are, after all, part of quite a big institution!

I then explained that typing from the book is equivalent to scanning.

The book was small, so the two pages typed on our VLE did not appear as much, less than an A4 page. So I said, and that was my mistake, that's fine, no worries, as long as you quote the book correctly below it, that will do.

It is much later, reading on the train back home, that I realised. The book I was reading was pretty small as well and I yelled "J'ai trouvé!" The French equivalent of ηὕρηκα / Eureka. There were two pages copied from that book, hence we need to fill in a CLA notice for scanning. Question then: where do you put that CLA notice in the VLE if it is not followed by the scanned text?

Arriving home I sent an email to the Tutor, mentioning the CLA notice. I then wrote that the notice could be made as a word or pdf attachment from an hyperlink on the book title.

Is it exactly the right thing to do? Frankly I don't know, but it appears right to me. On Monday I could contact either the interim copyright librarian at Oxford or LIS-COPYSEEK, but frankly I don't think I will find the time.

Copyright rules to be applied to language learning can be tricky. The CLA scanning permissions are great, but in language learning, there is hardly up to one chapter of a book (or its 10%) that is being used.

I have noticed, auditing the VLE from time to time, that a lot of the scans are for one page or two only. Most courses at the Language Centre are not credit-bearing, the students would not have time to read much, and frankly, it would take ages to read up to one chapter in a foreign language (or one chapter of grammar points -which for some, are equivalent to a foreign language!)

I can of like that about my work, these puzzles that need to be sorted. And I also like helping readers finding library materials on the shelves, managing assistants and mentoring CILIP's candidates, and ordering stuff, and cataloguing/circulating it. It's a very diverse work that includes physical as well as mental exercise. Perhaps I need both. I'm sure I'm not the only librarian to think that.

BACK TO THE VIDEO PROJECT

The video project is a long one. But I very much hope we will get there. But as to cover all aspects of copyright in a series of video, I really do not think it will be possible. Some people think that all can be included in the video and that there is no such thing as exceptions. Well, there are quite a lot.
For example one member of staff part of the project thinks that we can say "you can watch videos in your language class". Sure, ok. But which video? An illegal copy of a commercial DVD offered by a friend? No. A video borrowed from the library? Yes, and for ERA recorded videos you can even put extracts onto the VLE. A video from BBC iplayer? Yes, because we have a television licence. From youtube? Yes? Well perhaps not if the youtube video is clearly illegally copied from somewhere else. I have had Tutors in the past who believed that streaming video channels were fine. One of them showed me the internet link: all the films were recent and clearly had no right to be there! It can be tough for Tutors and Students alike: whatever is technically possible up there, is not necessarily whatever is legally possible.

For the video project the plan is (in an ideal world):
One video for good practice for making photocopies. We believe it will be the easiest to make.
The next one will be good practice for the VLE (with regards only to CLA).

And then, if time allows, using images and audio-visual. I'm not sure yet if we will be separating that in two bits: using images and audio-visual in the classroom, and using images and audio-visual in the VLE. We will possibly have to. As usual, it is so difficult to make things look simple without being simplistic.

ANOTHER TUTOR'S QUERY

Completely forgot: I actually had a third copyright question yesterday. An IT consultant came to see me. He was wondering if whether or not we could help the Tutors with having some software ready in all the classrooms. He mentioned a DVD he saw in one of the classroom, that related to a class textbooks (most class textbooks in language learning will be made of: books with accompanying CDs, DVDs, sometimes CD-ROMs, sometimes with electronic packages as with Cengage publisher). So the IT consultant asked if it would not be a good idea to have, on all computers of the language centre, the CDs and DVDs installed.

I took this as multicopying so I told him it would be best to check with: what it says on the product itself, and if no information available, the publishers. Some of them would perhaps not mind (especially if we were to pay an annual fee) some of them would mind. Then, I added my concern about the work that would have to be done regarding this. Who would ask for the permission? Who would pay? Probably the library budget. Plus I believe the way it works now if fine: each Tutor has borrowed the textbooks' CDs, DVDs etc from the library, and uses CD/DVD players in the computer. I believe some Tutors have made copies onto a memory pen, which I do not see as a problem, provided it is from the library copy, and the memory pen is then erased when the textbook is no longer in use. (a bit like a CLA clean-up at the end of the year).

Again, I was not 100% sure about my answer, but I remembered Mike Heaney's motto: "when in doubt: no."

It is difficult to be 100% sure for copyright, especially when you are not a full time copyright officer. Also, you have to take all points into account by asking the right questions, and at times perhaps you forget to ask the right questions, especially in a Friday afternoon of the week 1 of term when your new assistant (who is not a native English speaker) needs training, the latest acquisitions need cataloguing, and the circulation matrix needs updating. And oh, the new students lost in the library! Priority should have been them.

I did what I could to do everything right as usual, and that's the fun of that job, but I know that I cannot be as good as full time specialists librarians (cataloguers, copyright officers, reader services, subject, etc). Still, as a one-person library, I'm not doing too badly.
(но где вы monsieur Heaney? Vous nous manquez un peu!)