I had in mind for my first post proper, an overview of the wider copyright literacy project at Kent. However I’ve decided that will have to wait for another time because yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural Library Learning and Teaching Technologies Development Group and I really wanted to write about that. Now, we love our acronyms at Kent (and let’s face it I’ve never worked anywhere that doesn’t), but even my colleagues seem to be shying away from calling it LLTTDG. If nothing else my contribution was a suggestion that we call it the group L2T2 which led to a fair amount of fully justified eye-rolling. I’m not sure it’ll get formally adopted but my feeling is that by writing about it on the interweb it might at least slip into colloquial usage.
Anyway on to the meeting and its relevance to copyright literacy. L2T2’s remit is to look at all of the existing library technologies that support learning and teaching at Kent. Its purpose (as I understand it) is to consider not just what needs to be fixed or developed in the short term on individual systems (like resource discovery or reading list) but to think about how all of these fit together and try to come up with a more holistic view (there is also a corresponding Library Research Technologies Development Group). The primary reason I was there was to talk to them about the CLA‘s plans for a Digital Content Store which, if things to go as the CLA plan them to, will have a major impact on how we operate our services. It was very much an introductory conversation and for more detail I would suggest Kent colleagues contact me or, if you work at a different institution, speak to your CLA licence coordinator (you should be able to find their details pinned up next to your nearest photocopier).
I was also able to talk to L2T2 about the copyright literacy project and its relevance to the group. The project isn’t only focused on training staff and providing traditional guidance literature and my hope is that copyright can be integrated by design right through all our systems and processes. There has been much debate about why people might (intentionally or not) infringe copyright, but in my view the primary factor is the environment in which they operate (see here for an amazing video by Dan Ariely on this subject). I am really looking forward to working with my colleagues to try and get a fair and clear copyright support framework baked into everything we do. It’s a big challenge because it’s difficult enough just to keep the whole show running without some copyright geek suggestion a tweak in the process here and some signposting popping up there. And as every Bake Off fan knows, the more extra stuff (fruit, nuts etc.) you put in your batter, the more you run the risk of it turning out dense with a soggy bottom. However they invited me to the party so I’ll do my best to have my cake and eat it too.
Wow, feeling quite hungry now.
Featured Image: R2D2 by Angie Garrett – CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/smoorenburg/3503211648/sizes/z/