Creative Common: Copyright Zen

As a photographer, copyright has always been an issue for me—but solely from a creative standpoint. Until I began working as an academic library director, I never thought of copyright from an educational or use viewpoint. When I accepted my current position, I started an OER initiative at Northeastern Technical College and found myself needing to understand the nuances of copyright. My faculty began to incorporate videos, text, artwork, and varied forms of media in online classes. I had to know if they were following copyright and using educational fair use correctly. Quickly copyright became a large part of my workload. Working with OER repositories, I quickly realized Creative Commons was the most important aspect of copyright for myself and my faculty. During the height of COVID, I did the Creative Commons Certification Course and completed an independent study at the University of South Carolina, with Dick Kawooya, on OER and Copyright expert. After gaining this knowledge, my colleague Mark Knockemus presented this information at conferences and webinars. Copyright has become a significant part of my job. I enjoy educating and working with faculty to ensure we are not breaking the law and ensuring our students have class materials.