Abstract
Recent research (Wakaruk et al, 2025) indicates that copyright anxiety has a significant impact on universities in the UK and Canada. From stifling research to impacting negatively on teaching and learning activities. This anxiety can lead to legal chill (Penney, 2022) where individuals think the law is narrower than the reality. The impact on students is real; for example, sometimes the most relevant content cannot be made available due to concerns about copyright and licensing.
However, perhaps more worryingly copyright anxiety impacts significantly on the library profession – causing fear and worry amongst staff. Libraries also potentially pay for licences when they could rely on copyright exceptions. For those acting as copyright advisors they fear they might be ‘getting it wrong’ as policies are constantly changing in the field of open access and queries become increasingly complex. This anxiety is currently focused on the uncertainty over the copyright implications of using Generative AI tools. Staff in copyright support roles value being part of a community of practice, but what more can our institutions do to reduce overall copyright anxiety but also make better use of increasingly limited budgets? Simply saying don’t worry about copyright isn’t helpful as it is a legal matter that universities need to take seriously due to the significant financial and reputational risks associated with copyright infringement claims. This also raises questions about whether guidance provided by library staff might be seen as legal advice and how libraries should liaise with legal teams to balance the need for compliance whilst empowering their users.
In this panel discussion we discuss how we can start to tackle copyright anxiety in libraries and the benefits of approaching copyright queries as part of wider information literacy support. We will discuss what lessons can be learnt from the IL community to transform copyright from a compliance issue to one which lies at the heart of ethical access to information. Secker and Morrison (2016) define ‘Copyright Literacy’ as the ‘knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable the ethical creation and use of copyright material.’ They argued that it should be taught as part of information and digital literacies. However, ten years later copyright education remains as a specialist body of knowledge dealt with by one ‘copyright advisor’ who can be viewed as the arbiter of what is right or wrong. We note that not all institutions have the same level of awareness or resource to respond to copyright challenges (Morrison, 2018). We will explore how this culture can be changed and how copyright can be embraced as an essential part of digital, information and critical AI literacies.
After a brief presentation of the issues our expert panel will discuss:
• How academic libraries can deal with copyright anxiety and the emotional labour of copyright queries particularly since the rise of Generative AI.
• The value of information literacy in responding to copyright questions and its relationship to legal advice.
• How can collaboration and communities of practice can lie at the heart of the transformation we need to see in copyright support
References
Penney, J. W. (2022). Understanding chilling effects. Minnesota Law Review, 106(3), 1451–1532. https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/scholarly_works/1799/
Rimmer, H (2024) The Kind Librarian: Cultivating a Culture of Kindness and Wellbeing in Libraries. Facet Publishing: London.
Secker, J and Morrison C (2016) Copyright and E-learning: a guide for practitioners. Facet Publishing: London. 2nd edition.
Wakaruk, A., Secker, J., & Morrison, C. (2025). Copyright Anxiety and Legal Chill in Higher Education: A Comparison of Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). Journal of Copyright in Education & Librarianship, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jcel.v8i1.23058
