The Copyright Clearance Center announced the publication of a new electronic system yesterday aimed at easing the copyright permission process for faculty, staff and librarians at academic institutions.
The program, called the Copyright Permissions Building Block, integrates the copyright permission process in course management software. It is the first program of its kind, according to CCC Product Marketing Manager Tim Bowen.
Working with feedback from the more than 1,000 academic institutions, the CCC worked with college and university faculty and staff members who expressed concern about copyright permissions and policies.
Copyright is a complex issue, and faculty and staff tend to be confused about the many different laws and policies surrounding it, Bowen said. With Building Block, they can ensure they get the correct copyright permissions as they are creating their courses.
"What we found is that faculty didn't know when to get permission and when to not get permission," he said. "We tried to make it easier for them in this building block."
Currently, the Building Block only is available within the Blackboard Learning System, but CCC hopes to be able to integrate the program with other course management systems and other applications, including library automation systems, Bowen said.
Most faculty and staff members at the University use the Instructional Toolkit, a course management system developed by the University's Department of Information Technology and Communication and Instructional Technology Group.
The obligation is on the faculty to obtain copyright permission, but library staff members and ITC employees assist faculty in doing so, said Robert Reynolds, vice president and chief information officer of the Office of Information Technology.
ITC has been working with faculty and library staff to create the easiest and most efficient system for obtaining copyright permissions, Reynolds said.
Currently, copyright permissions are obtained from CCC by University Printing and Copying Service Center staff before printing course packets or making copies. Other faculty needs, such as uploading to Toolkit, are handled by the library system and other businesses in Charlottesville that have their own system for obtaining copyright permission, said Melvin Woodward, copy division manager of the University's Printing and Copying Services.
The Building Block program takes in all titles uploaded onto Blackboard and produces a list of the copyright content. Professors can then choose their texts from the list and request copyright permission.
According to Bowen, CCC has access to over 1.75 million publication titles.
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