Book Reviews

Copyright Conversations: Rights Literacy in a Digital World. Sara R. Benson, ed. Chicago, IL: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2019. 401p. Paper, $88.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-4654-1). LC 2019951271.

Copyright law is a complex and powerful set of regulations that establishes rights of creators and outlines the ways in which others may or may not exploit these products. For librarians, informed decision making related to copyright is essential to their institutional missions and their daily work. Copyright Conversations: Rights Literacy in a Digital World contextualizes copyright for academic librarians, offers advice on how to interpret and navigate the law, educate others, and establish leadership and authority within their communities. Published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, there is a clear focus on United States law with some essays included to offer Canadian and other international perspectives for American readers. It is important to remain current and up to date regarding the effects of copyright law on the work of the academic library. Regardless of one’s role in the library, this is a valuable text to have available for consultation. 

Copyright Conversations is divided into four topical sections (called parts I--IV). Within each section, chapters are written by authors with experience in higher education, including copyright services, scholarly communication departments, libraries, legal offices, and digital collections. Each chapter provides extensive references and a bibliography for further reading. The first part, “Copyright Librarians’ Role and Advocacy,” discusses how all librarians in the academic institution should gain and possess a comfort level related to copyright law to make informed choices, resist fears, and work within the risk level tolerated by their institutions. Chapter 2: “Copyright Law’s Role in Advocacy and Education for Open Access Policies on Campus” co-written by Kyle K. Courtney, a notable figure in the field, presents a practical example of how copyright education can organically be incorporated into the daily work of academic librarians. Specifically, Courtney and Krista L. Cox explain that librarians engaged with faculty and institutional repositories have ample opportunities to discuss and educate contributors on authors’ rights at the point of need.

Part II: “Education” may prove to be the most broadly useful section of the book for the majority of academic librarians. Chapter 7 provides the reader with a process-based method of self-study to evaluate and improve one’s knowledge and confidence level related to copyright law. Other chapters consider the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, the TEACH Act, one-shot instruction sessions, academic integrity, and the challenges inherent in institutional thesis submission versus future broader publication. Active learning strategies and point of need education are promoted by the authors and provide the reader with valuable advice to teach and learn more about the scope of copyright in their work.

Part III: “Research and Policy” diverges from the previous two sections and presents considerations a bit deeper and beyond the routine. The authors of these five chapters discuss the ways that librarians, through their example or their advocacy, can influence the copyright landscape both behaviorally and legislatively. In this section’s first chapter, Carrie Russell, the director of the Program on Public Access to Information for the ALA Washington Office, discusses copyright in the United States as a matter of public policy that exists to ensure that the public can benefit from the creativity of others. Her tone serves to empower (US) librarians to understand and exploit the rights provided by the law and to abandon strict guidelines that often subvert the law. Other chapters further demonstrate how librarians can effect positive change through sound practices. In a chapter on social media, the author explains how librarians should set the example and provide adequate metadata in all social media posts and any other content placed in the online environment to facilitate ethical research practices and reuse. Similarly, librarians’ cooperative conclusions and approaches to the challenges of orphan works can work to influence lawmakers. 

The fourth and final part, “International Issues,” although narrow in scope, offers valuable perspective for the core US audience. While the first chapter summarizes the international treaties and conventions related to copyright to which the United States has entered, like the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement, the remaining two chapters discuss Canadian and Italian challenges in depth. Chapter 20 explains how fair dealing in Canada is different from fair use in the US and how various high-profile legal cases and new laws in the last 15 years have worked to complicate the copyright landscape for higher education in that nation. The final chapter in the book is a case study that considers the impact of Italian copyright law on interlibrary loan services at one academic library. Both of these chapters emphasize how very different the application of national law is in each of these places compared to the benefits and challenges presented by US law and offer the reader the opportunity to appreciate these differences.

As the online environment continues to offer opportunities and challenges for higher education, new publications that consider copyright implications are a welcome resource for professionals tasked with supporting the missions of their academic institutions. Whether navigating and advising on copyright is one’s primary role or if copyright law influences one’s work, Copyright Conversations: Rights Literacy in a Digital World is a valuable text to have on hand on your bookshelf or in your library.—Janis L. DesMarais, College of the Holy Cross