2015 LibTech Conference

Many libraries, schools, and other organizations that provide technology and content to community members look to establish rules for use of those technologies that keep users and organizations on the "right side" of copyright law. Similarly, many of us try to keep on the "right side of the law" when making decisions for our organizations, such as whether to digitize certain materials and share them online. However, copyright law, and fair use in particular, is full of uncertainties - or from a different perspective, possibilities. When we ignore those possibilities for our institutions' projects, we constrain our own work and innovations. When we impose rules that prevent our users from exploring these possibilities, we impoverish their interactions with new technologies, content, and with the wider world online. In this session we’ll explore how rethinking the “right side” of a law that doesn’t -have- clear sides, and embracing risks, can unlock new possibilities for ourselves and our users.