Did library staff's understanding of copyright law compromise quality customer service?

Abstract

Headlines in papers such as 'The Independent Business Weekly' that stated "students to benefit from legalised theft," (Springall 1994) "Universities too free with photocopying" (Springall 2002) or "Universities clash with writers and publishers in copyright row," (Springall 2002) brought an awareness of copyright to library staff Libraries deal with information, the public and had photocopiers in their possession. This combination made the library environment vulnerable to copyright invasion. The way information was delivered within libraries was constantly changing, and the manner in which the public expected information was altering. That brought with it constant reviews on what was legally allowed. Over the past eighteen months discussions between the Department of Economic Affairs and interested parties, including the library sector had been continuing into whether or not an update in the Copyright Act 1994 was required. But what happened in libraries later? With continuing development, were the staff keeping up with these developments? Eighty libraries of various sizes in the South Island were asked to participate in the study focusing on tertiary, public and special libraries. Refer to appendix 1 for a list of these libraries. This gave an indication of how the copyright issue was being dealt with within the library environment. This data was collected and the results sent back to participating libraries. In February 2002 the University of Auckland, the University of Waikato, Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, Lincoln University, the University of Canterbury, the University of Otago and the Auckland University of Technology joined in the High Court of New Zealand to seek clarification on the rights to make copies of material protected by copyright against Copyright Licensing Limited. Some of this judgement had a bearing on libraries. This judgement focused on license agreements. This study only looked at the smaller picture, not licensing but what an individual or library could achieve. But one needed to be aware of what bigger organisations can achieve. Another viewpoint came from an article in Library Life (Sheat 2002) on what sections of the Copyright Act were critical to the routine duties performed by an assistant librarian. What information was being filtered down to the front line staff, the assistant librarians? This is what this study investigated. During the past eight to ten years there had been growing research on service quality within New Zealand libraries (I lemon and Calvert 1996) Library service was like any other service that required helpful friendly knowledgeable staff. This was part of the today's knowledge society and how knowledge was transferred from one medium to another. To enable this to happen, one could not overlook the level of service given on essential topics such as copyright regulations. Thus, there was an importance to achieve a reasonable level of service together with the knowledge base behind this.