AI-generated image, created in Microsoft Co-pilot on 15 November 2024.

The need for copyright literacy

Copyright is a big part of any creative activity, including research, learning, teaching and professional communications. Yet, in a short survey last year UCL staff and students rated their confidence around copyright at five out of 10. Those already engaging with UCL’s copyright support service and training express the need for a better understanding of copyright when creating and using materials such as articles, images and video. This need is even greater after the expansion of using GenAI in an already open online environment.

A copyright literacy strategy for UCL

The library is developing a copyright literacy strategy for UCL, setting a vision for different UCL communities to strengthen their skills and confidence around copyright.

We would like you to have a say in shaping this strategy. Do the strategy’s aims and proposed implementation speak to your needs? Are there gaps in understanding or support that should be addressed? The strategy document includes a feedback form inviting comments.

Your views as library professionals are important. Equally important are the views of students and staff outside LCCOS. Please consider giving us your feedback and, if you haven’t already, consider circulating this message to your contacts.

If you have any questions please contact Christine Daoutis c.daouti@ucl.ac.uk

The consultation closes on 13 December 2024. A final version of the strategy will be made live in January 2025.

Accessing the strategy document on Sway

You may need to log in with your UCL account details.

When viewing a Sway, you can turn on Accessibility view. This view displays a high-contrast style for easier reading, disables any animations, and supports keyboard navigation for use with screen readers. To turn on Accessibility view:

If you are using a mouse or touchscreen, on the More options menu (shown as three dots on the Sway toolbar), choose Accessibility view. If you’re using a screen reader, on the More options menu, when Accessibility view is selected, you hear “Displays this Sway in a high contrast design with full keyboard functionality and screen reader access to all content.”

You can also create PDFs by clicking the ‘…’ menu option in the top right corner of the Sway, clicking ‘export’ and choosing PDF.

Additional information

More on copyright skills as a critical part of information literacy can be found on the Arena MicroCPD ‘Embedding copyright literacy into your teaching’ [90 seconds] and on the 2024 UCL Education Conference post Getting comfortable with uncertainty’: developing students’ critical copyright literacy in the age of GenAI.

Help us shape UCL’s Copyright Literacy Strategy 

We seek your views and feedback on a UCL Copyright Literacy Strategy.  The strategy outlines a vision for the UCL community to increase their skills and confidence applying copyright knowledge in their research, teaching and other professional activities. It supports the LCCOS Strategy 2024 – 2027.

The draft Copyright Literacy Strategy sets out the vision, values and activities with which to achieve this.  A form at the end of the document invites feedback: do the strategy’s aims and proposed implementation speak to your needs?  Are there gaps in understanding or support that could be addressed?

UCL Copyright Literacy Strategy Draft

Why a Copyright Literacy Strategy for UCL? 

Copyright literacy helps us understand the contexts within which creative works are produced and used, and to apply this understanding in research, teaching and other activities. 

More on copyright skills as a critical part of information literacy can be found on the Arena MicroCPD ‘Embedding copyright literacy into your teaching’ [90 seconds] and on the UCL Education Conference post ‘Getting comfortable with uncertainty’: developing students’ critical copyright literacy in the age of GenAI.

The consultation closes on 13^th December 2024.  A final version of the strategy will be made live in January 2025.  Any interim questions can be emailed to copyright@ucl.ac.uk  

The Higher Education CLA Licence (also known as ‘Copyright Licensing Agency licence for photocopying, scanning and digital re-use’) allows copying from various resources – mainly books and journals – primarily, but not exclusively, for teaching purposes. A core part of the TLS team’s work is to ensure that course readings requested by lecturers are scanned and provided to students under the terms of the licence.

The terms of the CLA licence were renewed recently. The main change is that copying limits have been increased from one to two articles per journal issue. There are also terms facilitating the sharing of copies in collaborative projects. More guidance on this will  be released by the CLA soon.

The CLA requires institutions to display its posters next to every MFD, to ensure UCL staff and students comply with the licence. The new posters, which apply from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2027, have been sent to the library sites and departmental administrators. Thank you to all LCCOS staff who have helped display the new posters. You can also download a copy of the poster here  higher-education-notice-for-display 2024-2027.

The CLA poster is not the only one displayed next to MFDs. A second poster, based on guidance from CILIP and LACA (UK Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance) indicates what users can do under an ‘exception’ or ‘permitted act’ in UK copyright law. Exceptions, for example copying for the purposes of private study, are important, because they apply to a wider range of users and materials than the CLA does. Exceptions work alongside licences; in fact, what can be done under most exceptions cannot be overridden by restrictions in a licence.

Library users may rely on the CLA licence, a copyright exception, or both, depending on whether they are from UCL and on what they are copying and for what purpose. The table below provides more detail on these options.

If you have any questions about copyright or would like to arrange a training session, please contact Christine Daoutis copyright@ucl.ac.uk.

An entirely new version of the Copyright advice web pages has been launched recently. The content is intended to be more engaging and the information more targeted to specific UCL audiences. Please do take a look  and feel free to let Chris Holland know if you notice any issues or gaps which you think should be filled. On a related topic, if you are aware of any copyright training needs and you would like to discuss organising some sessions for specific UCL audiences (staff, students or both) please get in touch. Sessions can be tailored to meet the needs of the particular group.

On 19 February, I attended (representing UCL) a high level meeting with Commissioner Günther Oettinger in Brussels on copyright reform – arguing the case of a mandatory pan-European Exception for Text and Data Mining, which could not be overridden by contracts. To have such an Exception across Europe (we already have one in the UK) would revolutionize research and education and make Europe much more competitive. To find out why, read this report.