- Request a customized workshop for your class, department, or lab using our contact form.
- Book an appointment with us for an individual or small-group training using existing workshop materials (see below).
- Provide feedback about our public workshops or join our workshop announcement mailing list using this form.
Penn State encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact us at copyright@psu.edu in advance of your participation or visit.
Please provide feedback about the topics you would like to see covered in future workshops using this form.
Fall 2024 Workshops
Copyright and Your Thesis or Dissertation (60 minutes)
September 24, 2 p.m., Zoom (registration required)
Slides for Copyright and Your Thesis or Dissertation
Do you have copyright questions related to your thesis or dissertation? How can you obtain permission to use someone else’s images or figures? When can you use those images or figures without permission? What permission is necessary for use of archival or museum materials? What’s the relationship between copyright and academic honesty? Join us for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. After an overview, workshop participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical copyright questions and then debrief their responses as a full group. Danielle Steinhart will teach this workshop.
Copyright in One Hour (60 minutes)
October 1, 2 p.m., Zoom (registration required)
Slides for Copyright in One Hour
This workshop provides a brief introduction to U.S. copyright law, focusing on its impact on university research and teaching. This workshop is designed for complete beginners. You will learn what copyright covers and how copyrighted works enter the public domain. You’ll also learn about fair use and other rights that copyright gives to people using copyrighted material. This workshop will also serve as an introduction to the Fall 2024 slate of scholarly communications and copyright workshops from the University Libraries. Danielle Steinhart will teach this workshop.
Fair Use (60 minutes)
October 8, 2 p.m., Zoom (registration required)
Do you need copyright permission to use that image in your article, or that diagram in your course? When does copyright law allow use of copyrighted material without permission? In this introductory workshop, you will learn about U.S. copyright law’s fair use doctrine. You will have a chance to apply what you’ve learned to hypothetical questions involving fair use in a university setting, including questions related to research and to teaching. Danielle Steinhart will teach this workshop.
Copyright and Generative AI (60 minutes)
Slides for Copyright and Generative AI
This workshop will provide an introduction to copyright issues related to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Stable Diffusion. The law in this area is in flux, so we’ll study recent developments as well as relevant precedent on three questions. Are works created with generative AI tools copyrightable? Is it fair use to train a large language model on in-copyright material? And finally, is it fair use to use a generative AI tool to create a new work that is “substantially similar” to an in-copyright work? Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop, which is being offered twice this fall.
Copyright and Licensing for Sharing Research Software (60 minutes)
Slides for Sharing Research Software with Open Source Licenses
Whether you write a few lines of code or create a whole new application, sharing research software can enhance the impact and reproducibility of your research. Using an open source license on that software is often beneficial and sometimes necessary. Don’t let your questions about copyright and licensing hold back your research. This workshop will provide an overview of copyright law and Penn State University policy related to software licensing. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop. This is an update of a previous workshop, “Sharing Research Software with Open Source Licenses.”
Using Video in Courses (60 minutes)
Slides for Using Video in Courses
Have you ever run into course-related video copyright or licensing questions? Which of the Libraries’ licensed video resources can be used in courses, in person, on Canvas, or on Zoom? What about films on consumer-oriented platforms like Netflix or YouTube? How can you enable students to watch a film that is only available on DVD? Join us for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. During the workshop, participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical copyright questions and then debrief their responses as a full group. Tara Murray Grove and Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop.
Advanced Copyright Workshop: Managing Copyright and Permission (90 minutes)
Slides for Advanced Copyright Workshop: Managing Copyright and Permission
In this advanced workshop, we will explore copyright enforcement and the copyright permissions process under U.S. law. Universities and members of university communities are users as well as creators of copyrighted materials; this workshop will consider both perspectives throughout. Topics will include copyright registration and notice, how to (try to) make someone stop using your work, the Copyright Claims Board, and copyright infringement lawsuits. This is an advanced copyright workshop, designed for participants who have significant previous training and experience with copyright. Ana Enriquez and Danielle Steinhart will teach this workshop.
Past Workshops and Trainings (Available Upon Request)
Using the Researcher Metadata Database (60 minutes)
Slides for Using the Researcher Metadata Database
In this training, you will learn how to use the Researcher Metadata Database to share your scholarly articles with the public under Penn State’s open access policy. You will also learn other options for following up with open access policy reminder emails, including uploading files in Activity Insight, providing links to open copies of your articles, or getting waivers of the policy. Ana Enriquez will teach this training.
Plagiarism and Attribution (60 minutes)
Slides for Plagiarism and Attribution
This workshop will provide an introduction to plagiarism and attribution, including an overview of university policies related to these topics. You will learn how plagiarism differs from copyright infringement and when attribution is relevant to copyright law. You will also learn about text recycling (sometimes called “self-plagiarism”) and about plagiarism and attribution as they relate to the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop.
Copyright in Three Hours (3 hours)
This workshop provides a detailed introduction to U.S. copyright law. Through a combination of prerecorded videos, small group discussion, full group discussion, and short breaks, you will learn to apply copyright law to scenarios like those that come up at Penn State, including research- and course-related uses. This workshop will go into additional detail on the topics covered in the Copyright in One Hour workshop (copyrightability, the public domain, and fair use). It will also cover additional topics, including how courts determine whether one work counts as a copy of an earlier work, who counts as the author of a copyrighted work (including jointly authored works and works made for hire), and how copyrights are licensed or transferred. This workshop is recommended for participants who want to bring together previous copyright training into a holistic understanding of U.S. copyright law. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop.
Using Creative Commons Licensed Material (60 minutes)
Don’t understand the difference between Creative Commons ShareAlike and NoDerivatives licenses? Aren’t sure where to find great Creative Commons licensed content? Do you want to license your content with a Creative Commons license but don’t know which one to use? Are you curious about Creative Commons licenses? Join Danielle Steinhart, Copyright Specialist, for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. After an overview from Danielle, workshop participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical Creative Commons questions and then debrief their responses as a full group.
Copyright and Accessibility (60 minutes)
Are you curious about how copyright law interacts with making copyrighted works accessible to people with disabilities? Not sure if you can remediate a pdf for readability or add captions to a video? This workshop is for you. Join Danielle Steinhart, Copyright Specialist, for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. After an overview from Danielle, workshop participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical copyright questions and then debrief their responses as a full group.
Penn State’s Open Access Policy (60 minutes)
Penn State’s open access policy (AC02) applies to scholarly articles written by university researchers. In this workshop, you will learn how to make your articles open and how to get a waiver of the policy if you do not wish to make an article open. Participants will have a chance to practice using the Researcher Metadata Database to deposit articles in ScholarSphere for open access. For a workshop on the open access movement in general, please see our workshop “Basics of the Open Access Movement.”
Basics of the Open Access Movement (60 minutes)
Learn the history and current directions of the open access movement. Ask your questions. Get prepared to advocate for open access at Penn State and beyond. For a workshop on Penn State’s open access policy (AC02), please see our workshop “Penn State’s Open Access Policy.”
Fair Use Practice Session (60 minutes)
This workshop is intended for people who have completed the Introduction to Copyright series. We will provide a very brief overview of fair use. The remainder of the session will be devoted to discussing practice questions in small groups and then debriefing them as a full group.
International and Foreign Copyright: A U.S. Perspective (60-90 minutes)
This workshop is intended for people who have completed the Introduction to Copyright series. How does copyright law vary around the world? When you’re working across borders, which laws apply? Join us for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. This workshop can be adapted for between 60 and 90 minutes depending on the content included.
Negotiating Publishing Contracts (90 minutes)
Which terms of your publishing agreement might you want to negotiate? How? When you’re working on behalf of a publisher, what terms do you seek? Explore these and other questions about publishing contracts in an interactive workshop. After a brief overview of negotiation techniques and the law in this area, participants will negotiate mock publishing contracts. Participants will be able to choose between a mock contract for a journal article and one for a scholarly monograph. The group will then reconvene to debrief those negotiations.
Open Access in Brief (10 minutes)
Suitable for inclusion in a longer meeting, this very brief session covers basic concepts that are key to open access: “green” and “gold” open access; preprints, postprints, and versions of record; and public access policies from federal funders. It can be customized for specific academic units. The slides linked above include examples relevant to Meteorology and Atmospheric Science.
Predatory Publishing: Avoiding Academic Scams (60 minutes)
We’ve all seen publishing opportunities that seem too good to be true. How can you avoid falling for an offer from a predatory publisher and damaging your scholarly reputation? Join us for a workshop on avoiding predatory publishers. After an overview, participants will practice evaluating publishing offers and other solicitations sent to researchers (conference invites, editorial board nominations, etc) to determine whether they are predatory. Participants are encouraged to submit examples in advance for evaluation during the workshop.
Who Owns What (30 minutes)
What does PSU policy have to say about the ownership of scholarly IP? Who gets to sign publishing agreements and make copyright decisions about published research? How does this interact with public access mandates from research funders? Join us for a brief overview of Penn State policy in this area, with time for questions.
Complying with the Department of Energy Public Access Policy (30 minutes)
Do you understand the public access requirements for your DOE-funded research? Under DOE’s public access policy, publications based on DOE-supported research must be deposited in the DOE Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science (PAGES). Join us for a brief overview of grant recipients’ obligations, with time for questions.
Complying with the NIH Public Access Policy (30 minutes)
Do you understand the public access requirements for your NIH-funded research? Under NIH’s public access policy, publications based on NIH-supported research must be deposited in PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. Join us for a brief overview of grant recipients’ obligations, with time for questions.
Complying with the NSF Public Access Policy (30 minutes)
Do you understand the public access requirements for your NSF-funded research? Under NSF’s public access policy, publications based on NSF-supported research must be deposited in the NSF Public Access Repository no later than 12 months after initial publication. Join us for a brief overview of grant recipients’ obligations, with time for questions.
