Demystifying Copyright: Principles, Practices, and Ethical Considerations for Health Information Professionals

Scheduled: Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 1:00pm-2:30pm

This session will introduce and review principles of US copyright law that are relevant to working with the public in information-seeking contexts. In addition to familiar issues like fair use, permissions, and the public domain, we’ll also explore copyright ownership principles and the importance of licensing for both users and creators of copyrightable materials. We will briefly explore some differences in these issues in international contexts.

Many people think that plagiarism is a copyright issue, but this session will outline how it is typically not addressed by US copyright law. We will contrast this with academic ethics enforcement mechanisms more relevant to plagiarism. We will also touch on ethical and professional considerations around providing information about legal topics.

Attendees with limited copyright background will find this session informative on basic points and will see how to put some of that information into practice with library users immediately. Attendees with deeper experience with copyright will have an opportunity to expand their knowledge and begin applying it in novel legal contexts. All attendees will come away with a list of re-shareable information resources, and some principles for identifying shareable information in the future.

Audience 

Medical librarians and other information professionals who work in medical libraries, Much of the content will also be of interest to any library or information professional, but we will try to focus on medical examples.

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Grasp copyright basics like how one gets a copyright and how long they last.
• Begin to develop your understanding of when permissions may and may not be required – or sharpen your existing understanding.
• Differentiate between providing information versus providing advice, and appreciate the risks of the latter.
• Distinguish between copyright issues such as permissions and fair use, versus non-copyright issues such as citation and plagiarism.
• Expand your knowledge of licensed resources (both open and subscription) which may be useful in your work.

Presenter

Nancy Sims is the University of Minnesota Libraries’ subject specialist on copyright issues. Nancy is both a librarian and a lawyer, and is fascinated by the pervasiveness of copyright issues in modern life. Nancy’s role at UMN is not to be the “copyright cop”, but to help individuals and groups understand how copyright affects their work. At UMN and beyond, Nancy advocates for policies and practices that support sustainable scholarship, democratic information access, and wide public cultural participation.