OITP releases new online copyright education tools

OITP announces the release of two new online copyright education tools: the Fair Use Evaluator and the Exceptions for Instructors eTool.  These great new resources–developed by Copyright Committee super member Michael Brewer–add to OITP’s repertoire of copyright tools, including the Public Domain Slider and the Section 108 Spinner.

The Fair Use Evaluator is an online tool that can help users understand how to determine if the use of a protected work is a “fair use.” It helps users collect, organize, and document the information they may need to support a fair use claim, and  provides a time-stamped PDF document for the users’ records. The Fair Use Evaluator is located at http://librarycopyright.net/fairuse.

The Exceptions for Instructors eTool guides users through the educational exceptions in U.S. copyright law, helping to explain and clarify rights and responsibilities for the performance and display of copyrighted content in traditional, distance and blended educational models. The Exceptions for Instructors eTool is located at http://librarycopyright.net/etool.

These interactive copyright tools from OITP are all available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license for institutions such as libraries, schools, institutes, and universities to modify (adding their own, local copyright information and contacts) and use to educate their users about the limitations and exceptions in U.S. Copyright law.  The two latest tools also include functionality that can help users or institutions manage their use of copyrighted materials by allowing individuals to describe, share and keep a record of their intended use.