What actions you need to take

As a technician, or as a support staff in an educational environment, you are very much at the coalface when it comes to schools operating legally in the area of copyright. Below we detail some actions you can take to improve the legal compliance situation in your school. Let’s face it, the more people that respect and understand copyright law, the easier it is for you to do your job. The four areas that need action are people, technology, copyright materials and statutory licensing paperwork.

People and copyright awareness

To help develop an awareness of copyright responsibilities in your school:

• get up to date with changes in the law so that you understand your own legal obligations;
• post information on recent changes to copyright law in the staff room and on physical and electronic bulletin boards at your school, (you can use material from our website);
• refer any colleagues or staff to the Copyright Aware website;
• use the visual resources supplied in the resource pack to promote responsible information use in your school;
• display information on different categories of copyright material and their permitted usages around relevant technology, you can use the Knowing the Limits poster in the resource pack
• check every now and then that users are reading and understanding the information about copyright obligations posted around equipment;
• collaborate with library staff or information technology staff to plan improved ways of dealing with copyright obligations; and
• point people to where they can get further information, for example, from a member of staff, from this website, or from your own education jurisdiction.

Technology

Contextualise technology within a copyright law framework in your school by:

• making sure that all technology (computers, VCRs, scanners, photocopies) involved in reproducing, copying and communicating copyrighted materials has the appropriate notices as required by law;
• ensuring highly visible placement of legal notices and information so users are aware of their responsibilities before using any equipment;
• checking the currency of existing notices and replacing (if needed) with the notices supplied on this site;
• reviewing the placement and supervision of equipment to assess its security; and
• considering the usefulness of getting signed undertakings from students and staff who use school equipment not to infringe copyright.

Copyrighted materials

Review the handling of copyrighted materials in your school by:

• making sure the required legal notices for reproduced and communicated hard copy and electronic material are appropriately attached;
• updating the existing notices with the notices supplied on this site if needed; and
• including a disclaimer notice (e.g. “This institution does not authorise any use of the item which infringes copyright.”) on items that could be copied, such as compact discs, videocassettes and computer diskettes.

Statutory licensing paperwork

Being responsible and proactive about your school’s statutory licensing obligations by:

• familiarising yourself with the documentation associated with statutory licensing requirements;
• making sure that the necessary documentation is satisfactorily completed if your school is required to participate in a survey; and
• distinguishing between the various licensing categories that apply to copyright materials and the exemptions that educational institutions can avail themselves of under the Copyright Act in such a survey