The Reuse Evangelist

Abstract

The article discusses ways in which librarians can harness their contact with patrons to inform them about copyright issues that have arisen as a result of open access initiatives. The author comments on the reluctance of librarians to navigate the legalities of copyright found in the 2010 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) report titled "Fair Use Challenges in Academic and Research Libraries." Topics include the reuse of copyrighted materials in academic library course reserves, the responsibility for large amounts of digital content that libraries generate, and the use of the Creative Commons license which encourages reuse of copyrighted material.