Understanding librarians’ experiences of copyright: Findings from a phenomenographic study of UK information professionals

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Citation

Morrison, C. and Secker, J. (2017), "Understanding librarians’ experiences of copyright: Findings from a phenomenographic study of UK information professionals", Library Management, Vol. 38 No. 6/7, pp. 354-368. https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-01-2017-0011