Juan-Carlos Fernández-Molina

Academic Libraries and Copyright: Do Librarians Really Have the Required Knowledge?

A solid professional performance on the part of academic librarians at present calls for adequate knowledge about copyright law, not only for the development of their own tasks without infringing the law, but also to guide and provide pertinent advice for library users (faculty and students). This paper presents the results of an online survey of Brazilian academic librarians, the objective being to determine the level of knowledge about basic questions on copyright related to their professional activities. The case of Brazil is especially relevant, as it is one of the few countries still not including library exceptions and limitations in its copyright law. Our results make manifest important gaps in knowledge about copyright, underlining the need for a training program to remedy the situation. Moreover, because training is needed for current as well as future professionals, it should be implemented in both the professional and the educational sector.

Ethical and Legal Use of Information by University Students: The Core Content of a Training Program

Most intellectual works used by university students are copyrighted, which means there is a conflict between upholding these rights and respecting the use and access of works to develop their activities of learning and research. Yet students are not only the users of intellectual works—they are also creators, producing monographic works on assignment in the course of their undergraduate or graduate studies, whose copyright belongs to them. This close relationship between the activities of university students and the rights of authors has become more complicated with the development of the digital setting. There are far greater possibilities for creating, using and distributing digital information nowadays, but at the same time copyright legislation has become increasingly complex and restrictive. There is clearly a need to have basic knowledge regarding copyright in order to proceed in a proper way in the academic realm, and this need is addressed in the main information literacy standards. As a result, university libraries have taken on a new professional role, preparing their users to face the fundamental challenges for a proper use of information. We present a draft for a training program based on three pillars: examination of the information literacy standards/framework; analysis of the main points of intersection or friction between copyright and university students´ activities; and finally, the responses to a questionnaire by a sample of students from a Spanish university.

Copyright Literacy in the Academic Field: Analysis of the Differences Between Faculty, Students and Librarians

Copyright is involved in many of the educational and informational activities that take place in the environs of higher education, and not only professors but also students and librarians should know its main principles and rules. The aim of this paper is to identify the main differences and similarities in knowledge of the basic matters of copyright literacy among these three sectors of the university community: faculty, students, and librarians. To this end, the results of three different questionnaires in two Spanish universities (Extremadura and Granada) were analyzed. The results reveal that essential mistakes and misunderstandings are shared by all three sectors, although there are some interesting differences as well.

Las revistas científicas en América Latina hacia el camino del acceso abierto: un diagnóstico de políticas y estrategias editoriales

Este trabajo presenta los resultados mas relevantes de un diagnostico sobre el estado de las politicas y estrategias de los comites editoriales de las revistas cientificas latinoamericanas para favorecer el uso y reuso en acceso abierto de la produccion cientifica que publican, asi como sobre las percepciones y actitudes de editores y autores con relacion a estas politicas y estrategias. Se realizo analisis cuantitativo y cualitativo a los datos obtenidos de 516 revistas y de 400 cuestionarios de editores y 101 de autores. La mayoria de las revistas son gratuitas y consideradas de acceso abierto por sus editores, pero en muchos casos disponen de politicas de derecho de autor restrictivas o carecen de informacion explicita sobre las condiciones de uso de los articulos. Las estrategias institucionales y editoriales para promover el modelo son escasas y tienen poca visibilidad entre los autores. El financiamiento sostenible y la falta de familiarizacion con el modelo de acceso abierto estan entre las barreras mas importantes para que America Latina lleve adelante estas iniciativas. La region de America Latina necesita mayor y mejor alineacion y coherencia de las politicas institucionales y editoriales con los principios y estrategias que favorecen el acceso abierto, asi como mayor preparacion de editores y autores.Palabras clave: Acceso abierto. America Latina. Derecho de autor. Politicas editoriales. Revistas cientificas.