Book 56: Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators

TITLE: Copyright Law for Librarians and Educators: Creative Strategies and Practical Solutions
AUTHOR: Kenneth D. Crews
STARTED: June 18, 2009
FINISHED: June 20, 2009
PAGES: 141
GENRE: Library Science

FIRST SENTENCE: The relationship between copyright law and the pursuit of innovative education, librarianship, and scholarship has become more important and more complex in recent years.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] In this revised edition of Copyright Essentials for Librarians and Educators (2000), Crews (Indiana U. School of Law, library and information science) interprets areas of copyright law often problematic for colleges and universities. He emphasizes the benefits of "fair use" provisions that provide exceptions useful to current scholarship and librarianship roles, and covers issues that have arisen in recent years in fair use applications. The guide includes coverage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, provisions from the US Copyright Act, and a fair use checklist.

THOUGHTS: You would think this would be an incredibly boring and obtuse book. It wasn't. I was shocked. This book was the text for my week long institute class on copyright and intellectual property. I picked it up (on an airplane no less) with much trepidation. I was pleasantly surprised that, not only did I not place myself in a coma, I understood most of the material. Huzzah!

Crews (and his law student helpers) has managed to craft a text that clearly lays out copyright law for us legalese avoiding readers. Even better, Crews does a fantastic job of showcasing which aspects of the law apply to libraries, librarians, and library users. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in protecting the rights of libraries everywhere.

The only downside I found in this book was the layout. On most pages there are boxed excerpts, extra notes, etc. While the information contained in said boxes is important and useful, the way they are placed on the page is both distracting and not always logical.

Additional Note: I will probably talk more about this class and copyright law and libraries later... if I ever get my tush around to actually doing some blogging. I've been incredibly lazy as of late.

RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]