New Videos on Copyright Law Will Help Users Balance Fair-Use Considerations

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Three short educational videos on copyright law and policy became available to guide Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students in the use of Blackboard and related technologies. The videos were part of Vanderbilt’s effort to update its copyright policy and create clearer guidelines around the fair use of copyrighted materials, spurred by Blackboard’s move to a cloud-hosted environment and the addition of the streaming media service Kaltura.

A university-wide faculty-staff committee convened in October 2014 under Vice Provost Cynthia Cyrus to develop the policy, which balances respect for intellectual property rights with promoting creativity and the discovery of new knowledge. The committee, which used the Association of Research Libraries’ Code of Best Practices in Fair Use as a guide, also recommended campus implementation of the TEACH (Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization) Act of 2002.

“The libraries recognize the significance of having clearly articulated copyright policies to the development and implementation of education technologies,” said Cliff Anderson, director for scholarly communications at the Jean and Alexander Heard Library and a copyright committee member. “By clarifying our stance on licensing and fair use and by implementing outreach programs to educate faculty about their rights, we hope to foster transformative uses of copyrighted materials in Blackboard and other education technologies.”

Enhancements Underway for OAK Support

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Over a decade, use of the course management and learning technology system Online Access to Knowledge, or OAK, grew dramatically at Vanderbilt. During the 2013–14 academic year, the libraries and Vanderbilt IT worked together to address concerns with the system’s performance and to develop a long-term plan for OAK technical support that would best meet the needs of faculty and students.

Under the enhanced model, additional library and VUIT resources were focused on OAK support, with a combined team from several VUIT units providing technical support for the application. While the support model was being studied and enhanced, academic questions and concerns continued to be routed through the library via Cliff Anderson, director of scholarly communications, and Jody Combs, associate dean of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library. Library staff also continued to assist faculty in making library resources available via OAK.

Educational Technology | Clifford B. Anderson

New Videos on Copyright Law Will Help Users Balance Fair-Use Considerations

Enhancements Underway for OAK Support