2024 Schedule

12:00 - 5:00pm

Registration

Location: Ross Lobby

2:00 - 5:00pm

Copyright Boot Camp 101 Pre-conference Workshop

Sandra Aya Enimil, Program Director for Scholarly Communication and Information Policy, Yale University Library
Kyle K. Courtney, Esq, Copyright Advisor, Harvard University

5:30 - 7:30pm

Optional Social Hour

Location: Red Leg Brewery 
2323 Garden of the Gods Rd
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
 

8:30 - 10:00am

Coffee & Light Refreshments

Location: Ross Lobby

9:00 am - 4:30pm

Registration

Location: Ross Lobby

9:00- 9:15am

Dean's Welcome & Opening Remarks

Dr. Seth Porter, Dean of the Kraemer Family Library, UCCS

9:15 - 10:15am

Dave Hansen, Author’s Alliance

Why libraries have a central role in AI and why copyright law is on their side

In the last two years, "artificial intelligence' has sucked the air out of nearly every conversation on the future of knowledge production and access to information. As companies like Microsoft and OpenAI face down copyright lawsuits over their AI tools, libraries have not been immune from the AI boom nor from concerns about copyright-related risks. This talk will focus on how libraries are actually poised to play a key public-interest role in the AI ecosystem, addressing the major open copyright questions posed by AI for libraries (including fair use of library collections as training data), and the challenges libraries face in supporting AI research stemming from licensing and contractual override of fair use. 
 

10:15 - 10:30am

Break

10:30 - 11:30am

Sandra Aya Enimil

What's New in Copyright?

Please join Sandra Aya Enimil, Program Director for Scholarly Communication and Information Policy at Yale Library, for a update on what’s new in copyright law. Learn about copyright basics, applicable case updates, and any new copyright issues that may impact libraries. The focus is on copyright in libraries generally, and in the United States specifically.
 

11:30 - 12:15pm

Siyao Cheng

Beyond Copyright: Navigating to Protect Traditional Cultural Expressions

There is an ongoing conversation regarding the protection of traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) against misappropriation through various legal frameworks. Among the proposed legal mechanisms, copyright laws stand out as the first natural means of protecting TCEs since they are designed to govern the utilization and distribution of creative works, including many TCEs. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) latest information, 92 out of 118 countries employing laws, treaties, or regulations to protect TCEs have chosen to leverage copyright law and its related rights. Despite widespread application, however, copyright has demonstrated suboptimal effectiveness in adequately protecting TCEs. Many copyright objectives clash with the dynamic nature of TCEs––including the limited term of copyright, the concept of the public domain, the focus on sole authors, the requirement of fixation, and the definition of originality. Consequently, in response to the lack of comprehensive protection, the WIPO convened an intergovernmental committee to develop international-level protection for TCEs. Our study propels the advancement of such international instruments by employing the Delphi method, drawing insights from renowned international experts. During this presentation, we will discuss preliminary findings from the study to highlight the shortcomings of copyright in protecting TCEs.

Travel for Siyao Cheng was sponsored by the Ebook Study Group.  

12:15pm - 1:15pm

Lunch Break

Please join us for a catered lunch in room.
Location: Ross Lobby

1:15 - 2:15pm

Kenny Crews

From Ownership to Opportunity: Understanding Recent Developments in Copyright Law

Librarianship, research, publishing, and preservation remain at the center of recent developments in copyright law.  Copyright is a steering mechanism that defines ownership and allows uses of copyrighted works.  The entire copyright equation, from rightful ownership to proper use, has immediate and profound consequences for researchers, educators, librarians, archivists, and everyone interested in the growth of creativity.  This session will offer an overview of major copyright cases, including new and challenging guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court and a lower court’s critical limits on the tradition of “legal deposit” for a national library.  Meanwhile, the shape of law in the United States and elsewhere continues to be influenced by international agreements.  Discussions in Geneva, Switzerland may at long last have achieved an incremental conclusion that could open new opportunities for preservation services in diverse cultural institutions.  This session will offer an overview of developments, an exploration of practical implications, and a dose of personal reflection after a quest through multiple decades to discern a useful comprehension of the law that fosters literature, music, software, and more.

2:15pm - 2:30pm

Break

2:30 - 3:15pm

Lightning Talks

Emily Johnson
Copyright conundrum: Navigating IR deposits from countries that are not signatories to the Berne Convention
What happens when an international student from a non-Berne Convention country wants to deposit their manuscripts in your institutional repository? In this lightning talk, we'll discuss an interaction with a student from a country that is not a signatory to the Berne Convention. The student initially approached the library about increasing access to their work by uploading manuscripts from publications in their home country to the institutional repository. This led to fruitful conversations with other copyright librarians about how to approach questions regarding copyrighted material from countries that are not signatories of the Berne Convention, including concerns about potential legal consequences if the students return home. Using this question as a case study, I will present potential issues librarians should keep in mind when advising international students about copyright. All participants and publications will be de-identified.
 

Virginia Cononie
That' AI bot can't tell you song lyrics, here's why.
This lightning talk will briefly cover copyright from a creator’s perspective by discussing Ai’s impact on music creation, the ethics around sharing song lyrics and intellectual property rights.

Katherine Greene
Artificial Intelligence in a Health Sciences Library
This lightning talk will discuss how Dahlgren, a health sciences library, is providing education and guidance to patrons  regarding Artificial Intelligence and intellectual property.

Margaret Vaverek 
Campus Copyright - The Best Way to Educate Users? That Depends!
The answer to most any question about copyright is- “That depends”. So many different factors come into play and each situation can be very different. Helping students/faculty/staff learn more and understand that we are all engaged with copyright in higher education and beyond is a real challenge.

The focus of this brief talk will be to share the results of a small survey done at Texas State University. Copyright librarians at some ARL libraries in different areas of the country were asked to share their thoughts on what works best when seeking to provide copyright education opportunities for users throughout campus at their institutions. What solutions did the librarians have in common? What struggles remain as we all seek to help both colleagues and students understand the ever-changing world of copyright?

Gwendolyn Sibley
The Incongruous Relationship between Generative AI Development and University Regulatory Policies
The development of Generative AI is still in legal conversations, but the common defense of its sources and data collection practices is based in fair use arguments. This fair use defense will ultimately be decided on a case-by-case basis, but in the meantime, Universities are in the dilemma of creating regulatory policies on AI development. These polices need to address state and federal educational laws, but also stand to stifle innovation of AI in educational environments. This talk will address how regulatory policies on teachers may conflict with their interests in using generative AI in the workplace.

Sarah E. McCleskey
Section 108 Preservation for Videos
We all know that streaming videos can be ephemeral - they come and go from platforms, often unexpectedly. Libraries must continue to acquire and preserve physical formats. VHS has long been obsolete, but DVDs are increasingly eligible for 108 preservation - out of print, unavailable for purchase, damaged or deteriorating. How can libraries collaborate to preserve content stored in this increasingly rare physical format?

3:15 - 3:30pm

Break

3:30 - 4:15pm

Pia Hunter

AI Authorship and Digital Storytelling: Who Owns the Rights When AI Tells the Tale?

According to the United States Copyright Office, some AI-generated content may be eligible for copyright protection if the work is “basically one of human authorship” and is in some way “original and unique.” However, the question of originality becomes complicated when some or all the work is created by Generative AI software that extracts content from the Internet without acknowledging the original source or its authors. This session discusses cases about Generative AI and how they might redefine the intellectual property rights of content creators and copyright holders.

4:15 - 5:00pm

Kyle Courtney

Solving the eBook Conundrum: Libraries, Legislation, and Advocacy in the States

Most publishers force libraries to acquire eBooks with licensing terms rendering it impossible for libraries to meet their access and preservation mission. These licenses are destroying the core access, acquisition, collection development, and preservation functions in libraries. While nearly all the major publishers charge libraries higher licensing fees than the consumer prices for the same material, they also place strict limitations on how the licensed content can be used, shared, or loaned. Worse, each license does not confer any ownership under the law – these acquisitions are, at best, temporary rentals. This directly impacts an organization’s ability to serve their communities. As a result, many communities lack meaningful access to materials needed for education, research, entertainment, and general learning.  
Several legislative efforts have attempted to rectify this problem. States like Maryland had previously tried enacting laws forcing publishers to license eBooks to libraries under reasonable terms. However, these previous attempts were declared unconstitutional by courts because the state law was preempted by federal copyright law. 
However, there is a new successful strategic approach used by the eBooks Study Group that addresses the flaws in these original efforts. States such as CT, HI, IL, MA, and RI are using the eBook Study Group model eBook law to offer new hopeful front in the licensing problem: state contract and consumer protection laws. These new laws are more reflective of the library’s mission and help preserve the significant legal and fiscal value in library collections. The goal is to use the law to help libraries continue to provide open, non-discriminatory, access to materials. Join Kyle K. Courtney as he reveals how these new laws may be shifting the tide, weaponizing the very tool that has been wielded against libraries for decades: licenses.  

5:30 - 7:30pm

Reception

Location: Ross Lobby

8:30 - 10:00am

Coffee & Light Refreshments

Location: Ross Lobby

9:00 - 9:45am

Katie Zimmerman

AI and Library Content

AI is hungry, and libraries have content.  What should libraries consider about their collections being used to train generative AI? Topics covered will include use of content that libraries control, such as archival and repository content, as well as issues faced with content licensed from publishers and vendors.

9:45 - 10:00 am

Break

10:00 - 11:00am

Caroline Damren and Raven Lanier

Mitigating Legal Risk of Using Generative AI Tools

With the education landscape quickly changing due to the evolving world of Generative AI, it’s important to know how to best consider the legal risks that can come with integrating Generative AI tools into courses and other projects. The University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation has developed an internal vetting procedure to mitigate risk, focusing not only on copyright, but accessibility and data privacy as well. The session will provide attendees with a practical tool and system they can use as a starting point at their own institution, teach them how to vet and track third-party tool use, and help them consider risk as Generative AI evolves.
 

11:00 - 11:15am

Break

11:15am - 12:15pm

Laura Nagel and Marisol Moreno Ortiz

AI, DEIA, and ©: A Starting Point

You’ve probably been talking or hearing about AI and copyright, but has it been through a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Antiracism (DEIA) lens? Come explore where DEIA intersects with AI, the impact to and from copyright, and what you can do to use and advocate for AI in ethical and effective ways. Participants will see live and real-time examples of the challenges and opportunities AI presents for copyright and DEIA, with space to discuss their own experiences and next steps to take in action.
 

12:15 - 12:30pm

Closing Remarks

Dr. Seth Porter, Dean of the Kraemer Family Library, UCCS