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Librarians and information professionals increasingly need to deal with copyright issues in their work, however evidence suggests that they can lack confidence and often refer queries to a dedicated copyright specialist. The purpose of this paper is to explore the professional experiences of copyright of a group of academic librarians in the UK, with a view to devising appropriate copyright education strategies.

The research was conducted using phenomenography, which is a qualitative approach from education. Data were collected though group interviews to explore the variation of experience. Four categories of description were devised which are placed in an outcome space.

There were four qualitatively distinct ways that librarians experience copyright in their professional lives, including viewing it as a problem, as complicated, as a known entity and as an opportunity. The variations in experience relate to a variety of factors such as the librarians’ role, ideology, level of experience, context and with whom they might be dealing.

This is the first study of this nature, building on quantitative findings from a multinational survey. It concludes that librarians need to be taught about copyright in a way that acknowledges and addresses the challenges so that they can view it as empowering and as part of wider information literacy initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a multinational survey on copyright literacy of specialists from libraries and other cultural institutions.

This paper is based on a multinational survey of copyright literacy competencies of Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals and those who work in the cultural heritage sector (archives and museums), conducted in 13 countries, namely Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (CR), Finland (FI), France (FR), Hungary (HU), Lithuania (LT), Mexico (MX), Norway (NO), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Turkey (TR), UK and USA in the period July 2013-March 2015. An online survey instrument was developed in order to collect data from professionals regarding their familiarity with, knowledge and awareness of, and opinions on copyright-related issues.

Findings of this study highlight gaps in existing knowledge of copyright, and information about the level of copyright literacy of LIS and cultural sector professionals. Also attitudes toward copyright learning content in academic education and continuing professional development training programs are investigated.

This study aimed to address a gap in the literature by encompassing specialists from the cultural institutions in an international comparative context. The paper offers guidance for further understanding of copyright in a wider framework of digital and information literacy; and for the implementation of copyright policy, and the establishment of copyright advisor positions in cultural institutions. The recommendations support a revision of academic and continuing education programs learning curriculum and methods.

Reports on two projects at University College London (UCL) involving collaboration between information specialists and academic departments to support the university’s Learning and Teaching strategy. The Access Project is developing an electronic course materials system, and the Key Skills Web Development project is delivering customised skills resource material online.

This paper reports on research undertaken at University College London (UCL) for two projects funded by Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE’s) Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF). This paper documents the production processes, costs and resources for both traditional (printed) and electronic study (course) packs. We concentrate on a comparison of in‐house and outsourced copyright clearance and digitisation services for electronic study packs. UCL’s use of the HERON service is evaluated. The paper concludes electronic study packs would provide a valuable addition to teaching support services, but there are implications for equipment and staff which are discussed. Although this paper is based on a case study from UCL, we hope that other academic libraries considering introducing an electronic course pack service or electronic reserve will find some useful evidence of the integration of electronic and traditional library activities.