Copyright in the Library
Course
Teaching Students about Copyright [4:30]
- Learn strategies for teaching copyright with print resources.
- Learn ways to educate your staff and students about digital copyright.
- Learn to teach the importance of citing sources using standard citation styles.
Even at the elementary level, students should learn how to use print resources responsibly in research. Students as young as fourth grade can be taught about copyright in print materials. Consider teaching a lesson about the copyright page in books and having students identify the basic information needed for a citation. At the middle and high school level, consider expanding to nonfiction and reference materials. You could also address the difference between copyright and fair use for materials such as sheet music, poetry, and images. Finally, students at all levels could benefit from a mini-lesson on why copying information from a book is not a good idea.
Students are increasingly using the Internet to research and create. Because of this, teaching lessons about how copyright applies to digital information is critical. Items to consider when teaching digital copyright in middle and high school include locating citations in databases, as well as teaching the specifics of creative commons, public domain, and website evaluation. This especially includes image, video, and sound use. Consider compiling a set of royalty-free image, video, and sound websites for student use and share them on your library website. Market this list not only to students, but also to teachers who can remind students to use them for assigned projects. Librarians at all school levels should address plagiarism, as well as alternatives to copying and pasting information into their own work. Refer to the resources at the end of this lesson for more information and ideas for teaching digital copyright.
Whether students are using print or digital sources, all students need to learn how to give credit to the places where they got their information. Using a citation generator may be helpful for citing both print and digital sources. At the elementary level, students could work in groups to identify parts they need to create practice citations before having to do their own. At the middle and high school levels, check with your collaborating teacher to align your lesson with their citation requirements. Also, be sure to point out citation information in databases and any electronic reference resources you provide to your school community.
Copyright and fair use are components of digital literacy that all students should know about. As a librarian, it is your responsibility to teach lessons that help your students learn to information responsibly. Students should know how to give credit to any type of resource they use in all situations. Specific resources, including images and music, require direct teaching and support at every level. Whether students are using print or digital materials, they should have direct instruction or librarian-created resources to help them use and credit their sources appropriately.
While the idea of teaching students about copyright may seem overwhelming, the good news is that there are several websites with lots of great suggestions for lessons at all levels. Use the resources (presented in this lesson) to explore some recommendations for new lessons.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. Teachingcopyright.org. https://www.teachingcopyright.org/
Internet Education Foundation. CopyrightandCreativity.org. 2018. https://www.copyrightandcreativity.org/ (especially good for elementary lessons)
Schrock, Kathy. "Copyright and Intellectual Property." Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything, June 2019. https://www.schrockguide.net/intellectual-property.html
Simpson, Carol. "Copyright Questions of the Month: Can Classroom Teachers Use Book Jackets with Students for Book Reports?" Library Media Connection, January 2014. http://schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/1949108.
Woodall, Tara. "The Right Stuff: Teaching Kids about Copyright." Common Sense Education, July 2017. https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/the-right-stuff-teaching-kids-about-copyright
Explore the Resources section above for new lessons you can teach to students at your school. Using page 9 in the Course Packet (found in the Resources above), brainstorm how can you revise lessons you already teach to incorporate some of these new ideas? Finally, identify and bookmark the websites that you think will be most helpful to you.
MLA Citation
Editorial Team, SLC. "Copyright in the Library: Resources for Teaching Print and Digital Copyright." School Library Connection, October 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2264100?learningModuleId=2264095&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2269215
When teaching students about copyright, an important part of that lesson should deal with plagiarism and what it means to use other people's work. If something is published on the web, can you use it without citing it? If a student finds an image or a document on a website that doesn't indicate it is copyright protected, is it ok to use? Discussing copyright and plagiarism with your students is an important step in creating successful life-long learners.
Darr, Terry. "Combating Plagiarism: Paraphrasing and Micro-Paraphrasing." School Library Connection, September 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/LiteratureLesson/2221946?terms=darr&topicCenterId=2158552&citeId=2.
Teaching your students about copyright lends itself to discussions about plagiarism. Depending on the age of your students, they may not even know what it means. As you begin to create a lesson plan for teaching about plagiarism, take a look at the excerpt and sample lesson plan (found in the Resources above) from Terry Darr's book, Combating Plagiarism: A Hands-On Guide for Librarians, Teachers, and Students. Reflect on this lesson plan and begin to start your own lesson. Also in this book, Barr provides discussion questions to spark conversations about plagiarism with various groups or topics. Using page 11 of the Course Packet (found in the Resources above), create some discussion questions for each category to have conversation starters at hand when introducing this in your lesson.
MLA Citation
Editorial Team, SLC. "Copyright in the Library: Combating Plagiarism." School Library Connection, October 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2264100?learningModuleId=2264095&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2269978
Additional Resources
About the Author
MLA Citation
Grover, Rachel. "Copyright in the Library. Teaching Students about Copyright [4:30]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, October 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2264100?learningModuleId=2264095&topicCenterId=2247902.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2264100?learningModuleId=2264095&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2264100