UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Beginning Oct. 6, Penn State University Libraries will offer virtual workshops on scholarly communications and copyright topics for students, faculty, staff and the public. The workshops include an introduction to U.S. copyright law, a workshop for graduate students, and a pair of workshops on U.S. copyright law’s fair use doctrine and generative AI and copyright.
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.
Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) credit will be offered for "Copyright in One Hour," "Copy That Navigating Copyright and Scholarly Publishing in Graduate School," "Fair Use," and "Copyright and Generative AI."
"Copyright in One Hour"
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2-3 p.m. Zoom (registration required)
This workshop provides a brief introduction to U.S. copyright law, focusing on its impact on university research and teaching. This workshop is designed for complete beginners. You will learn what copyright covers and how copyrighted works enter the public domain. You’ll also learn about fair use and other rights that copyright gives to people using copyrighted material. Danielle Steinhart from the Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright will teach this workshop.
"Open Access from Every Angle: Navigating Funder Requirements and Making the Most of Penn State's OA Policy with the Researcher Metadata Database and ScholarSphere"
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1-2 p.m. Zoom (registration required) for "Open Access from Every Angle"
This workshop will train participants to use Penn State’s Researcher Metadata Database and ScholarSphere. Attendees will learn about their ability to share their scholarly works under Penn State’s Policy AC02: Open Access to Scholarly Articles as well as how to comply with federal public access policies. Attendees will also learn how to enter and maintain accurate metadata, identify materials that need to be archived and deposit eligible scholarly outputs in ScholarSphere to meet policy obligations and improve discoverability. The session will also cover workflow best practices, file preparation, and how these tools support timely compliance with funder mandates, long-term preservation, and broader access to research outputs. This session is open to the university community only.
"Copy That? Navigating Copyright and Scholarly Publishing in Graduate School"
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2-3 p.m. Zoom (registration required) for "Copy That?"
Not sure if you can use that resource in your scholarship or when fair use applies? Do you have copyright questions related to your thesis or dissertation? Curious about article processing charges for open access publishing? Wondering about the relationship between copyright and academic honesty? Join Danielle Steinhart for a workshop on these and other questions.
"Fair Use"
Friday, Nov. 6, 12:15-1:15 p.m., Zoom (registration required) for "Fair Use"
Do you need copyright permission to use that image in your article, or that diagram in your course? When does copyright law allow use of copyrighted material without permission? In this introductory workshop, you will learn about U.S. copyright law’s fair use doctrine. You will have a chance to apply what you’ve learned to hypothetical questions involving fair use in a university setting, including questions related to research and teaching. Ana Enriquez from the Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright will teach this workshop. This workshop is recommended as preparation for Ana’s workshop on Generative AI and Copyright, which will be offered on Nov. 13, via Zoom.
"Generative AI and Copyright"
Friday, Nov.13, 12:15 -1:15 p.m., Zoom (registration required) for "Generative AI"
This workshop will provide an overview of copyright issues related to generative AI, including tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) as well as the AI-driven features of tools such as Canva and Grammarly. The law in this area is in flux, so we’ll study recent developments as well as relevant precedent on three questions:
- When is it fair use for a developer to train an AI tool on in-copyright material?
- When is it fair use for a user to provide in-copyright material to an AI tool as part of a query?
- Could a user inadvertently infringe copyright by using AI-generated output?
Ana Enriquez from the Libraries’ Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright will teach this workshop. This is an intermediate workshop. Participants who are not already familiar with U.S. copyright law and fair use are encouraged to attend Ana’s workshop on fair use on Nov. 6, via Zoom, or meet with her individually in advance of this session.
Penn State encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact copyright@psu.edu in advance of your participation or visit.
For more information about the workshop program, visit the Workshops page. For questions, visit the Office of Scholarly Communications and Copyright at Penn State University Libraries, at copyright@psu.edu.