Copyright Information Management and the University Library: Staffing, Organizational Placement and Authority

Submitted by mlb78 on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 17:21
TitleCopyright Information Management and the University Library: Staffing, Organizational Placement and Authority
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsAlbitz, Rebecca S.
JournalJournal of Academic Librarianship
Volume39
Issue5
Pagination429-235
ISSN Number0099-1333
Keywordscopyright, library
AbstractCopyright plays a central role in numerous activities within higher education, and educating a university community about copyright law should be a priority, if only to protect the institution from lawsuits. But, based upon a literature review, institutions devote a more resources to other intellectual property activities - plagiarism detection, technology transfer and illegal file sharing management - than for general copyright education activities. Utilizing Mintzberg's organizational model and its discussion of organizational placement and legitimacy as a conceptual framework, this study explores the current copyright education structures among the universities that comprise the Consortium on Institutional Cooperation, otherwise known as the CIC or the Big Ten, to determine whether organizational placement, credentials of individuals, and resources devoted to this activity affect the legitimacy of the office and the authority of copyright officers to fulfill their responsibilities. The results of this study suggest that organizational placement, while it plays a role, is not nearly as important as the credentials of the individual in the position in conveying legitimacy. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.
NotesThis article stressed the importance of copyright education in university library environment. In particular, study results indicated that it should be of primal significance to hire an intellectual property attorney to address copyright issues, so that university libraries could be better off in developing library accessibility.
DOI10.1016/j.acalib.2013.04.002