Understanding librarians’ experiences of copyright: findings from a phenomenographic study of UK information professionals

Purpose: Librarians and information professionals increasingly need to deal with copyright issues in their work, however evidence suggests they can lack confidence and often refer queries to a dedicated copyright specialist. Explores the professional experiences of copyright of a group of academic librarians in the UK, with a view to devising appropriate copyright education strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Uses phenomenography which is a qualitative method from education. Data was collected though group interviews to explore the variation of experience. Four categories of description were devised which are placed in an outcome space.

Findings: There were four distinct ways that librarians experience copyright in their professional lives, including viewing it as a problem, as complicated, as a known entity and as an opportunity. The variations in experience relate to a variety of factors such as the librarians’ role, ideology, level of experience, context and who they might be dealing with.

Originality/value: The first study of this nature, building on quantitative findings from a multinational survey. Concludes librarians need to be taught about copyright in a way that acknowledges and addresses the challenges so librarians view it as empowering and part of wider information literacy initiatives.