Attended by Elizabeth Howe on Monday, April 1, 2013.
Just kidding. This workshop was really called "Introduction to Copyright for Librarians and Archivists." I added "confusion," because this subject is often confusing! Nevertheless, I learned or reviewed a lot of "rules" and was supplied with the best handouts ever for future reference.
Peter Hirtle (copyright guru), from Cornell, is an excellent instructor. He kept the day "fun" with interesting stories of lawsuits that have occurred or are occurring over copyright issues. He also had asked us to email specific questions ahead of time that we discussed during his presentation.
My questions were about copyright of actual newspapers, and newspaper microfilm, so Mr. Hirtle helped me understand those issues. A couple other points he made that I remember are that libraries and archives rarely get in trouble with copyright, and if they do, they often just receive a request to "cease and desist." If needed, it is wise to protect ourselves with messages such as "in good faith I did my best to find the author or artist or photographer, etc. -- to get permission from the copyright owner." Also, this workshop has inspired me to put up signage in the WMR that puts responsibility on the patron for how copies made in our repository are used.
One of the most awesome aspects of this workshop was the venue. It was held at the Buena Vista Conference and Reception Center in New Castle, Delaware. The Conference Center is a state-owned historic property built in 1842, formerly the governor's mansion. Also, New Castle is the location of Oak Knoll Books, so I had the pleasure of visiting their rare book shop after the workshop was over.
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