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Penn State Celebrates Fair Use Week 2017 #WeAreFairUse

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Fair Use Fundamentals infographic, from Fair Use Week (CC BY)

February 20-24, 2017 marks Fair Use Week, a celebration of users’ rights in copyright law. This year we are celebrating with the release of the first iteration of the Fair Use Suite, a set of resources designed for PSU faculty, staff, and students, including a downloadable fair use checklist, a fair use reminder card, and more to come throughout the year.

What Is Fair Use?

Fair Use is an integral part of copyright law – it’s the legal doctrine that allows users and creators to build upon and incorporate the past without permission of copyright owners. It allows us to reuse, remix, archive, parody, criticize, and comment on previous works. It also allows technological uses like indexing copyrighted works so users may search for them, time-shifting tv shows to watch later, and creating accessible copies of copyrighted works for the disabled. Fair Use supports the constitutional mandate that copyright serves to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. (In 18th century speak, that’s learning and science, in that order!)

How Do I Know Something Is a Fair Use?

While many factors are considered, there is a 4 factor test codified in 17 USC § 107 is always used (brief explanations in bold)

  1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; is it transformative?
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work; is it factual? creative? 
  3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; have you used more than necessary? and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. does your use impinge on the market for the work?

Using the four factors isn’t black and white – they are taken all together, and must be evaluated for every copyrighted work used – it’s a case by case analysis.

#WeAreFairUse 2017

Penn State University and the Penn State Libraries embrace the usefulness of fair use and its necessity in fulfilling our mission of teaching, research, and service and to inspire intellectual discovery and learning through robust information resources and academic collaborations in teaching and research that connect the Penn State community and citizens of Pennsylvania to the world of knowledge and new ideas.

This week, take a moment to learn more about Fair Use.

Fair Use Week Events and Posts

What can you do to celebrate Fair Use Week?

Thesis + Dissertation Q&A: Can I use previously published work?

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Update, November 2020: Our office has recently released a guide, Copyright and Your Thesis or Dissertation, which addresses a variety of copyright issues related to Penn State theses and dissertations. With questions, you can always contact us or make an appointment.

A student recently inquired on the difference between these two provisions of the T&D guide, and if they were contradictory.

“Previously Published Work:
Work by the thesis/dissertation author which is published prior to thesis/dissertation submission (or is shortly expected to be published) may be accepted as part of the thesis/dissertation, provided the committee approves the work and the published material was written specifically to fulfill thesis/dissertation requirements. If you submit previously published copyrighted work and you are not the copyright holder, a letter of permission from the copyright holder must accompany the thesis/dissertation. In no case may work used for a previous degree be submitted.
 
First Author Requirement:
Your department may permit you to submit multiple-authored work as thesis/dissertation material if you are first author of the work. Your contributions must be clearly and fully indicated in a preface to the thesis/dissertation.”
—

The two statements aren’t contradictory. The first statement doesn’t have anything to do with second authors:

The “first author” requirement for T&D is to ensure that submissions that include another author are primarily the work of the thesis/dissertation author. You can only include multiple-authored work (published or not) where you are the first author (only exception I know of is if the norms of the field do not include “first author”). That requirement has nothing to do with copyright and is an academic requirement. You would have to talk to the T&D office as well as your committee chair regarding being able to use those works.

When two or more persons author a work jointly, intending the contributions to meld into an indivisible whole, all the authors own the copyright together. Or the authors may come to an agreement prior to writing to dictate who owns the copyright. Absent an agreement, any of the authors that own the copyright may republish or license the work, except for an exclusive license, which all authors must agree to.

The “previously published work” requirement is both an academic requirement and a copyright matter. You must obtain permission from your committee to republish your previously published work – and this implies that it is a single-author work. If you have assigned the copyright in that work to the publisher, you must obtain the publisher’s permission before including it in the dissertation, and that permission must accompany the dissertation. Unfortunately, most authors don’t understand that when they publish an article and assign the copyright in the article, they may not republish the article, incorporate it, or rewrite it, without the permission of the publisher/copyright holder.

In short, this is what the guide says: you may use your own work in your thesis if it was written as part of your thesis work (this implies single author works). If you aren’t the copyright owner then you need permission. And then they make an exception for multi-author works where the thesis author was the first author.

Interlibrary Loan at PSU – Get the Materials You Need!

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Did you know you can use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to borrow materials through the Penn State Libraries that the Libraries do not have in their holdings? And if you’re at University Park, you may also use ILL to request UP Faculty & Staff office delivery of items?  If you’ve ever been discouraged that the Libraries don’t subscribe to a particular database or journal that contains that one journal article you really need, this is the service for you! Just fill out the ILL form with as much information as possible so the Libraries can attempt to fulfill your request.

Items that I have received through ILL in the past year include:

  • out of print theological tomes
  • microfilm business records of a women’s art collective from the 1970s held in the National Archives of Art
  • a German language newspaper from the 1930s

By registering to use interlibrary loan services and submitting requests for materials, users accept responsibility for complying with United States Copyright Law.

WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of those specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research”. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use”, that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

The ILL unit uses specialized software to track borrower requests and to comply with the law. Where providing the copy exceeds the restrictions of copyright law, other arrangements are made to serve the request.

Even better, ILL will deliver PSU Libraries holdings straight to your office at University Park.

Visit PSU Libraries Interlibrary Loan page to get signed up! Here’s some additional information below.

Items that may be requested through ILL

  • Loans of Books
  • Copies of Journal and Newspaper articles  (ILL reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.)
  • Loans of Dissertations/Theses
  • Loans of Newspaper Microfilm
  • Loans of older journal volumes

U.P. Faculty/Staff Office Delivery

Office delivery is available to University Park Campus faculty and staff. Circulating material from the Libraries and Interlibrary Loan will be delivered to your departmental address via campus mail.

This service is available to faculty and staff who are registered with the Libraries and are in good standing. Materials should be delivered to your office within 3 – 4 business days.  To ensure proper delivery of materials, please review your address information in your Library Accounts.

There are several changes when using this service:

  • You will receive a system-generated notice that your material is being sent.
  • Material will be checked out to your library or ILLiad account prior to being placed in campus mail.  Due dates for restricted loan materials, such as DVDs, will be based on the date checked out, not the date received (see note about DVDs below).
  • Material will be delivered to the departmental office address you provided in your CAT and ILLiad accounts.

Registering A Copyright

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How to Register a Copyright
  1. Why register my copyright?
    1. Copyright subsists in protectable works upon creation. However, copyright registration confers certain benefits for copyright owners, including the ability to bring suit against infringers.
  2. When should I register the copyright?
    1. You can register a copyright at any time. However, applying to register the copyright in your work within 3 months of publishing it creates a presumption of validity in the copyright (assuming everything else is proper).
  3. Should I use a service to register a copyright?
    1. In short – no. Copyright registration is relatively simple and may be done online.
    2. However, if you seek to protect your personal information, including your address, you may wish to consider such a service.
  4. Privacy & Copyright Registration
    1. The information you provide the Copyright Office is part of the public record. If you include your home address in the registration, that is part of the public record. If you use your email address – also part of the public record.
    2. You can use a third-party agent (i.e., a copyright registration service), a post office box, a single-purpose email address that forwards to your regular address, etc.
  5. What do I need to register a copyright?
    1. The application form
    2. Nonrefundable filing fee ($35 for sole authors of a single work, $55 for others, $85 for a paper application)
    3. Nonreturnable deposit (copies of your work)
  6. How do I apply to register my copyrighted work online?
    1. You may apply to register a work using the online system through the US Copyright Office.  The Copyright Office maintains screen-by-screen tutorials of how to use the online registration system.
    2. You will make an online payment of your nonrefundable filing fee.
    3. Upload your work via the system or print out a mailing slip to deposit a physical copy of your work.
  7. What kinds of copyrighted works can be registered online?
    1. Literary Works
    2. Visual Arts
    3. Sound Recordings
    4. Performing Arts
    5. Motion Pictures and other Audiovisual Works
    6. A single issue of a serial.
    7. Group submissions – this category is most important for registration of periodicals (serials like newspapers and magazines and dailies). These may also be registered via paper form.
    8. Any other item must use a paper form!
  8. How do I apply to register a work on paper?
    1. Use the forms provided by the Copyright Office.
  9. When do I need to use a paper form?
    1. Renewals
    2. Corrections/additions
    3. Vessel Hull Designs
    4. Mask Works
    5. Registrations for copyrights restored by the 1994 URAA
    6. groups of photographs (by a single photographer in the same calendar year).
  10. What happens when I register my copyright?
    1. Your registration, once approved, is effective on the date all materials were received by the Copyright Office (the form, the deposit, and the fee).
    2. Your copyright registration is assigned a number and a certificate of registration is issued.
    3. Your registration appears in the Copyright Office’s records as evidence you have registered your copyright.

Penn State Celebrates Fair Use Week 2016 #WeAreFairUse

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Messages Image(600065454)

Fair Use Fundamentals infographic, from Fair Use Week (CC BY)

February 22-26, 2016 marks Fair Use Week, a celebration of users’ rights in copyright law.

What Is Fair Use?

Fair Use is an integral part of copyright law – it’s the legal doctrine that allows users and creators to build upon and incorporate the past without permission of copyright owners. It allows us to reuse, remix, archive, parody, criticize, and comment on previous works. It also allows technological uses like indexing copyrighted works so users may search for them, time-shifting tv shows to watch later, and creating accessible copies of copyrighted works for the disabled. Fair Use supports the constitutional mandate that copyright serves to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. (In 18th century speak, that’s learning and science, in that order!)

How Do I Know Something Is a Fair Use?

While many factors are considered, there is a 4 factor test codified in 17 USC § 107 is always used (brief explanations in bold)

  1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; is it transformative?
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work; is it factual? creative? 
  3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; have you used more than necessary? and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. does your use impinge on the market for the work?

Using the four factors isn’t black and white – they are taken all together, and must be evaluated for every copyrighted work used – it’s a case by case analysis.

#WeAreFairUse 2016

Penn State University and the Penn State Libraries embrace the usefulness of fair use and its necessity in fulfilling our mission of teaching, research, and service and to inspire intellectual discovery and learning through robust information resources and academic collaborations in teaching and research that connect the Penn State community and citizens of Pennsylvania to the world of knowledge and new ideas.

This week, take a moment to learn more about Fair Use.

Fair Use Week 2016 Events and Posts

What can you do to celebrate Fair Use Week?

Maximizing Your Libraries’ Resources: Copyright, Publishing, and Research Reputation Workshop {Postponed}

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This event was postponed due to weather.

February 16, 2016, at 5:30 p.m.
112 Kern Graduate Building

Register now (registration closes on Feb. 15, 2016) or
watch the livestream on Feb. 16, 2016

The University Libraries is pleased to invite all graduate students to Maximizing Your Libraries’ Resources: Copyright, Publishing, and Research Reputation. This 60-minute professional development workshop on Feb. 16, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. in 112 Kern Graduate Building will be livestreamed and recorded.

Maximizing Your Libraries’ Resources: Copyright, Publishing, and Research Reputation will offer information, resources, and insights essential to the sophisticated researcher. Topics will include:

  • Copyright and the use and creation of content;
  • Infringement;
  • Plagiarism;
  • Publishing and making your work openly accessible;
  • Penn State’s ScholarSphere;
  • Managing your online scholarly/professional presence;
  • Privacy concerns; and
  • The Open Research and Contributor ID (ORCID).

The University Libraries will also be asking for your input about what additional services they could offer to help enhance your graduate experience. Please bring your thoughts and suggestions.

Do not miss this session! Your attendance will help increase your researcher savviness…guaranteed!

Open Educational Resource Pilot Program

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The Open Educational Resource (OER) Task Force is seeking partners to pilot the use of OERs in their course(s) this fall. Any faculty who have used or are interested in using OERs are encouraged to consider participating.

The task force is using the UNESCO definition of OER:

Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them.

Interested faculty should contact Joe Salem (jsalem@psu.edu) for more information.

Keystone Digital Humanities Transcribathon!

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The Penn State Libraries will participate in the first Keystone Digital Humanities Transcribathon!

This event will be held on Wednesday, April 15th from 4:00pm – 7:00pm and is open to the University community and the public.  Participants from across PA will meet virtually and in person to transcribe personal and institutional archival materials – so come and join in the fun!

On Penn State’s University Park Campus, we will gather in 23 West Pattee Library to transcribe the Milton Lytle Civil War Era Diaries.

For more info, visit: https://georgelovesbooks.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/keystone-dh-transcribathon/

#WeAreFairUse – Penn State Celebrates Fair Use Week 2015

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February 23-27, 2015 marks Fair Use Week, a celebration of user’s rights in copyright law.

What Is Fair Use?

Fair Use is an integral part of copyright law – it’s the legal doctrine that allows users and creators to build upon and incorporate the past without permission of copyright owners. It allows us to reuse, remix, archive, parody, criticize, and comment on previous works. It also allows technological uses like indexing copyrighted works so users may search for them, time-shifting tv shows to watch later, and creating accessible copies of copyrighted works for the disabled. Fair Use supports the constitutional mandate that copyright serves to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. (In 18th century speak, that’s learning and science, in that order!)

#WeAreFairUse 2015

Penn State University and the Penn State Libraries embrace the usefulness of fair use and its necessity in fulfilling our mission of teaching, research, and service and to inspire intellectual discovery and learning through robust information resources and academic collaborations in teaching and research that connect the Penn State community and citizens of Pennsylvania to the world of knowledge and new ideas.

This week, take a moment to learn more about Fair Use.

Fair Use Week 2015 Events

What can you do to celebrate Fair Use Week?

“Fair Use Fundamentals Infographic” by the Association of Research Libraries is licensed under CC-BY (Version Unspecified).

ARL-FUW-Infographic-r4

ARL-FUW-Infographic-r4

DISCLAIMER

The information on this site and from the Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright at PSU Libraries is not legal advice and is provided for informational purposes only. The Office of Scholarly Communications & Copyright is not counsel to any members of the PSU community.

License

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