Fair Use Week Exhibit and Event Toolkit

Abstract

In Fall 2015, the Open Knowledge Committee of Virginia Tech’s University Libraries decided to participate in Fair Use Week 2016. This was our first time participating. We put a call out and gathered a planning group. Our week-long event included an interactive exhibit, an exhibit reception, three workshops, a website, and a blog post. Our goals for this event were to: (a) raise awareness of the nature and application of the Fair Use provision in U.S. Copyright law, and to (b) provide interactive components to engage participants in thinking about copyrights and their choices when: 1. considering the use of copyrighted materials for research, education, creative, commercial, or other purposes, and 2. creating and sharing copyrightable works in various contexts. We took a broad view of our target audience - aiming to provide in-person and online opportunities for interactive engagement by VT students, employees, instructors, researchers, and the general public. We reused resources from others, and want to share our content for further reuse.

Fair Use is a 4-part exemption of U.S. Copyright Law which allows copying, redistribution, public displays, performance, transmission, and creation of new versions when the proposed use is deemed by the user’s informed analysis to be “fair” rather than “infringing.” Explore various tools and resources for your Fair Use analysis. Exhibit focuses on several local, current, and historical examples related to fair use. 2016/02/22 - 2016/03/11

Description
Keywords
Fair Use, Copyright, Fair Use Week, Toolkit, Exhibit
Citation
"Celebrate Fair Use Week!" Event Toolkit. University Libraries, Virginia Tech. February 2016. Developed by: Virginia (Ginny) Pannabecker, Anita Walz, Robert Sebek, Scott Fralin, and Keith Gilbertson.