Second Day - IST 511

Today’s class provided a look into a very controversial area in librarianship – copyright and intellectual property. Although copyright was developed for the protection of one’s intellectual property, the law does provide for certain uses. One of these is the Fair Use principle and another is material that is in the Public Domain. A good place to learn more about copyright is through the website of the U.S. Copyright Office sponsored by the Library of Congress. http://www.copyright.gov/.

I had not heard of Creative Commons before this class. According to their website, http://creativecommons.org/, (accessed 7/21/09), “Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that increases sharing and improves collaborations.” This site allows you to find licensed works to use as well as the opportunity to give creative commons licensing to your own materials.

We had introductions to many of the online databases at S.U. Besides looking at different ways of searching effectively, we also had the opportunity to explore the library's beta site and the changes that it will bring. I think this new site will be easier to use and is more visually appealing.

Like yesterday, we had two S.U. alums from the MSLIS program who are practicing librarians in academic and special libraries. Their career paths were amazing to me in the fact that they both kept their career options open by researching what was available to them and being aware of the evolving library world around them. They both stressed the importance of being an integral team member in their respective libraries.

I made a connection with John Schuster, from the Morrisville State College Library. He spoke of a prior job in his career – working for Mandarin Library Systems. John had actually worked to automate the library catalog at the public school where I was working. I was amazed at his knowledge then of library systems and continue to be impressed with his career. His library website has just undergone a facelift a few months ago. Check it out at http://library.morrisville.edu/.