Copyright communication in Canadian academic libraries: a national survey

The concepts of copyright and intellectual property have always been integral to the mission and functioning of our knowledge-based universities. This association deeply affects academic libraries as well. The transition to a knowledge-based economy and changes in modes of knowledge acquisition and dissemination have radically altered the context of universities and libraries and brought questions of copyright and other intellectual property to the fore. A national survey of Canadian academic libraries was undertaken in the summer of 2008 to understand the organizational context for copyright responsibility in universities and the methods of communication that are used by university libraries to engage the user community on copyright issues. The survey results indicate a wide variation in approaches and numerous challenges faced by libraries. Presentation of the results is followed by general recommendations as well as suggested avenues for future study.