UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Beginning June 4, Penn State University Libraries will offer virtual workshops on scholarly communications and copyright topics for students, faculty and staff, and the public. The workshops include introductions to U.S. copyright law, the Libraries’ Researcher Metadata Database, open-source software licensing, plagiarism and attribution, copyright issues related to generative AI tools, using Creative Commons licensed material, and copyright and accessibility.
Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI) credit is available for several of the workshops. All workshops will be held online via Zoom. Registration is free but required for all workshops. To register, follow the links listed with each session, or email copyright@psu.edu.
For more information about the workshop program, visit the Workshops page. For questions, contact us at copyright@psu.edu.
Copyright in One Hour
June 4, 10–11 a.m.
Register for 'Copyright in One Hour' via Zoom
This workshop provides a brief introduction to U.S. copyright law, focusing on its impact on university research and teaching. Attendees will learn what copyright covers and how copyrighted works enter the public domain. They also will learn about fair use and other rights that copyright gives to people using copyrighted material. Ana Enriquez, head of the Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright, will teach this workshop. Participants will earn SARI credit.
Using the Researcher Metadata Database
June 6, 10–11 a.m.
Register for 'Using the Researcher Metadata Database' via Zoom
In this training session, participants will learn how to use the Researcher Metadata Database to share their scholarly articles with the public under Penn State’s open access policy. They also will learn other options for following up with open access policy reminder emails, including uploading files in Activity Insight, providing links to open copies of their articles, or getting waivers of the policy. Ana Enriquez will teach this session.
Sharing Research Software with Open Source Licenses
June 6, 4–5 p.m.
Register for 'Sharing Research Software with Open Source Licenses' via Zoom
Open-source software development is increasingly common in many areas of academic work. However, researchers who write software must balance a host of disciplinary and institutional expectations to share their code. This workshop provides an introduction to open-source software licensing with particular focus on the needs of Penn State researchers. Topics include the importance of software licenses, common open-source licenses used in scientific software projects, and recommendations for navigating relevant University and funder policies. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop. Participants will earn SARI credit.
Plagiarism and Attribution
June 18, 10–11 a.m.
Register for 'Plagiarism and Attribution' via Zoom
This workshop will provide an introduction to plagiarism and attribution, including an overview of University policies related to these topics. Participants will learn how plagiarism differs from copyright infringement and when attribution is relevant to copyright law. They also will learn about text recycling (sometimes called “self-plagiarism”) and about plagiarism and attribution as they relate to the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop. Participants will earn SARI credit.
Copyright and Generative AI
June 18, 4–5 p.m.
Register for 'Copyright and Generative AI' via Zoom
This workshop will provide an introduction to copyright issues related to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Stable Diffusion. The law in this area is in flux, so the workshop will cover recent developments as well as relevant precedent on three questions: Are works created with generative AI tools copyrightable? Is it fair use to train a large language model on in-copyright material? Finally, is it fair use to use a generative AI tool to create a new work that is “substantially similar” to an in-copyright work? Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop. Participants will earn SARI credit.
Copyright in Three Hours
June 20, 1–4 p.m.
Register for 'Copyright in Three Hours' via Zoom
This workshop provides a detailed introduction to U.S. copyright law. Through a combination of prerecorded videos, small group discussion, full group discussion and short breaks, attendees will learn to apply copyright law to scenarios like those that come up at Penn State, including research- and course-related uses. This workshop will go into additional detail on the topics covered in the Copyright in One Hour workshop (copyrightability, the public domain and fair use). It also will cover additional topics, including how courts determine whether one work counts as a copy of an earlier work, who counts as the author of a copyrighted work (including jointly authored works and works made for hire), and how copyrights are licensed or transferred. This workshop is recommended for participants who want to bring together previous copyright training into a holistic understanding of U.S. copyright law. Ana Enriquez will teach this workshop.
Using Creative Commons Licensed Material
June 25, 2–3 p.m.
Register for 'Using Creative Commons Licensed Material' via Zoom
Are you curious about Creative Commons licenses? Don’t understand the difference between ShareAlike and NoDerivatives licenses? Not sure where to find great Creative Commons licensed content? Do you want to license your content with a Creative Commons license but don’t know which one to use? Join Danielle Steinhart, copyright specialist, for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. After an overview from Danielle, workshop participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical Creative Commons questions and then debrief their responses as a full group. Participants will earn SARI credit.
Copyright and Accessibility
June 27, 2–3 p.m.
Register for 'Copyright and Accessibility' via Zoom
Are you curious about how copyright law interacts with making copyrighted works accessible to people with disabilities? Not sure if you can remediate a PDF for readability or add captions to a video? This workshop is for you. Join Danielle Steinhart for a workshop on these and other questions. This is an interactive workshop. After an overview from Steinhart, workshop participants will work in small groups to address hypothetical copyright questions and then debrief their responses as a full group.