International Copyright

BY DONNA FERULLO

PILLAR: Global Challenges

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether or not it is legal to purchase copyrighted materials manufactured outside the United States and resell them in the U.S. without the permission of the copyright owner. The case is Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons and involves a Thai National who attended school in the U.S. Kirtsaeng thought to help pay for his education by having his family purchase overseas editions of textbooks and send them to him in the U.S. where he then sold them to fellow students for a profit. Wiley, the publisher of the textbooks, sued Kirtsaeng in federal court in New York for copyright infringement. Kirtsaeng claimed that his activities were covered by the first sale doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act. However, the jury disagreed and found him guilty of copyright infringement on eight books and awarded Wiley $75,000 for each book for a total of $600,000. Kirtsaeng appealed but the Second Circuit agreed with the lower court that the first sale doctrine does not apply to goods made in a foreign country.

The Circuit Courts have now split three ways on this issue. As indicated above, the Second Circuit has ruled that copyrighted works manufactured outside the U.S. can never be resold in the U.S. without the copyright owner’s permission. The Ninth Circuit takes a slightly different approach. They ruled that a foreign work can be resold in the U.S. without permission but only after the copyright owner has approved a prior sale inside the U.S. The Third Circuit has ruled that foreign works can be resold in the U.S. without permission provided that the copyright owner authorized the first sale of the work wherever the work was manufactured. The U.S. Supreme Court did review this issue with the Ninth Circuit case of Costco v. Omega but the Court split with a 4-4 tie. Justice Elena Kagan had to recuse herself since she was involved in the case prior to becoming a Supreme Court justice. When the U.S. Supreme Court splits on a decision, then the Circuit Court decision stands.

This case has the potential to greatly impact how libraries do business. Many of the books libraries purchase are manufactured outside of the United States. Libraries rely upon the first sale doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Act to loan those books. First sale allows the copyright owner to determine when their work will be made available to the public but once that occurs then the copyright owner does not have any control over the resale or the loan of their work. This is how libraries and used book stores can stay in business.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the fall with a ruling to follow in June 2013.

Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics dedication

PILLAR: Learning

On Friday, April 27 Purdue University dedicated the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics. There was a fantastic turnout as Roland Parrish thanked all those who made the Library possible. Dean Mullins made remarks as well, on behalf of Libraries. Read his remarks from the dedication below.

On behalf of the Libraries faculty and staff, welcome to this special occasion to mark the dedication of the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics.

The Parrish Library grew from collaborative thinking and effort that began in 2004 when I charged a task force from the Libraries, the Krannert School and the Department of Agricultural Economics to develop a plan for a re-conceptualized management and economics library. Once planned and the construction started, it took a total of three phases over four years to complete the project (and to identify funding), but the result was well worth the wait. Today we witness and celebrate an amazing transformation of that Library.

In ecology there is a term — ecotone — used to describe where two ecological zones overlap or meet such as prairie and forest or plains and mountains. Each ecological zone has plants and animals that thrive in its specific environment. However, it has been observed, that where two zones meet or overlap, the flora and fauna take on characteristics that enable them to thrive in both environments.

The Parrish Library is an ecotone that combines the traditional role of the library as a place to study and reflect and the role of the classroom and laboratory as a place for instruction. By combining the best and inherent qualities of both, we have created a place more dynamic than either of its component parts — an ecotone.

Today, the Parrish Library is among the most unique learning spaces at Purdue and one still rare in academia. The multi-faceted Parrish Library represents a premier example of the University’s growing number of IMPACT environments furthering the University's strategic plan to ensure student success. Learning environments like the Parrish Library are central to the Provost's campus-wide initiative for the redesign of classes and curricula to engage students more fully in their learning.

What you will see when you tour the Parrish Library represents a convergence of vision, research, collaboration, hard work, public and private support and, notably, Roland Parrish's lifelong love of learning and his generosity as a philanthropist. Thank you, Roland and Jewell.

And thank you to all donors, friends, administrators and colleagues for your support of this vision and the promise this library’s dedication brings. Your contributions have made a transformative learning environment possible for a new generation.

Thank you to former Krannert Dean, Rick Cosier, for his encouragement and support in undertaking this massive transformation of the Krannert building. He along with former Dean of Agriculture, Randy Woodson, made the initial commitment that was necessary for this transformation.

Thank you to interim Krannert Dean Jerry Lynch and Chris Earley, Krannert's current dean, and to Jay Akridge the current dean of Agriculture for their continued support.

Finally, last but not least, join me in offering special appreciation to two people whose thoughtful and insightful work is evident in the space above us: Tomalee Doan, associate professor and head of the Libraries' Humanities, Social Science, Education and Business Division, and Hal Kirkwood, associate professor and associate head of the Parrish Library, for their vision and understanding of today’s learning environment. Tomalee and Hal’s enthusiasm for this project was contagious and inspirational to us all. And a special thank you to all of the staff of Parrish Library and to the myriad of administrators and staff within the Libraries and on campus for their work to make this project so successful.

If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to tour the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics after this program. Experience it for yourself.

Thank you.

PILLAR: Global Challenges

My time at the Purdue University Libraries has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am taking back a wealth of knowledge and experience that will enhance my work and enrich my research support. Sharing what I've learned with my colleagues will benefit the University of Pretoria Libraries as well as those of the other Universities within our consortium.

I want to thank everyone for your kindness and friendship and showing me not only the professional side of librarianship in America, but also the personal, family and social side. Everyone was so generous with their time and willingness to share their ideas, work and life experiences. I enjoyed every meeting, talk, lunch and dinner.

The most valuable asset that I gained are the contacts I’ve made which allowed me the opportunity to share in future projects, collaborations and research. One of my personal highlights was networking with HABRI Central, which provided the opportunity for collaboration between South African and American human animal bond colleagues, benefiting both countries.

The following is what I am taking back to my home institution, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

• Data Curation: I am very impressed by the advanced development of the data curation process at Purdue Libraries; taking a lead worldwide in addressing the challenges of managing collections of research data and the involvement of librarians and the University faculty to better support interdisciplinary research through data curation. The University of Pretoria is still in the planning stages of data curation plans and will definitely benefit from my recent experiences with Purdue's data curation process.
• Collaboration: Collaboration between colleagues, sections, projects and different libraries at Purdue as well as universities throughout the United States, is one of the concepts that I am taking back to Pretoria. For example the HathiTrust and HABRI Central.
•  Professionalism: Librarians at Purdue (faculty and tenure tract) are true scholars. It is mirrored by their research output.
• Publishing and scientific writing: Librarians in South Africa do not have faculty status or tenure tract, so publishing articles or participating in research, except for own study purposes, is limited. Even when librarians do publish, they do not benefit from financial rewards for rated researchers by the National Research Funding (NRF), as in the case of other academic personnel. I would like to promote conference presentation and publishing within the South African library environment, starting by example and encouraging my fellow interns of the Carnegie program to do the same.
• Theory and practice: I have realized the value of theory behind the practical things that needs to be done in libraries. The value of truly knowing what the profession is about and being able to apply the knowledge of information science to other seemingly unrelated disciplines, to analyze and understand a problem and to rethink a process or concept.
• Information literacy at Purdue: Information literacy training is embedded in curriculum and more problem-based. Training sessions are interesting — trainers make use of a variety of teaching techniques to make it exciting for students, but also address different learning styles of students/users. The sessions are very creative and stimulates critical thinking. First-year students at the University of Pretoria write a mandatory exam on library and computer literacy after self-study and basic library orientation. Students who fail this test are enrolled in a semester course in information literacy. This year, Veterinary faculty have made information literacy part of the curriculum starting in the second year of all students. Students spend two hours a week, for six consecutive weeks, embedded in the professional life course. Credit points for this course contribute towards the final grades of the student. In the beginning of their clinical year, sixth year students are again trained in the use of databases, internet searching and evaluating their finds. Libraries help them find information gateways and portals and open sources that will provide them with reliable information when they are in practice and not having the benefit of University paid databases.
• Space: The reconceptualization of spaces, e.g. Parrish Library, LearnLab and Envision Center, and the re-use of space that was gained in acquisitions of e-resources is also an issue affecting South African Libraries. I was impressed by the use of technology and furnishings to enhance user experiences.
• Brown Bag and Reading Discussions: I enjoyed going to both these activities. I learned a lot during the presentations. I am impressed by the personal involvement and interest in other colleague’s experiences.
• Patron Driven Acquisitions at Purdue: E-books, Libraries auto-purchase at the fourth significant use, result in overall savings in terms of employee time, resources budget, interlibrary loan cost and reducing the incidence of titles purchased and then seldom or never used. Most of the interns who visited Purdue during the two weeks at the Mortenson program, were impressed by the PDA system. It was mentioned at our mid intern meeting as one of the items that is going to be on the agenda back in South Africa.
• Grants and fundraising:  One of the biggest differences between Purdue and UP Libraries is money, namely grants, budgets and fundraising. Libraries in South Africa are funded by the Universities. Grant writing is not a usual activity, although not unheard of. Fundraising is done by top management, and occurs when a need is identified, and as an annual event. Because of less available funds, South African librarians have to be more creative to achieve the same results in service delivery.
• The CareerWiki : I was amazed by the involvement of the library in the CareerWiki. The website of the Career Office of UP confirmed that we have a similar service for students, although the library has nothing to do with it. Should the library become involved?
• Embedded librarianship: I have come to the understanding the embedded librarianship is not a collective of the organization as a whole but rather individual. The librarian or information specialist gets involved in projects within the faculty, support faculty members and contributes to student benefits.

It is difficult to make a list of everything I learned at Purdue and during my stay in the United States and even to describe these learning experiences. I now have a great amount of useful knowledge, which I believe will evolve when I’m facing problems, challenges or other opportunities in my work at home. I believe I now have a more professional perspective on the role and purpose of libraries in the research environment from this experience. I know, from this point on that I have a responsibility to make a positive difference, not only at the University of Pretoria, but also for librarianship and research support in South Africa.

Fraser Riehle travels with F&N class to Washington D.C.

Students taking Food Policy & Nutrition – a course offered by the Purdue University Honors Program and co-taught by Catherine Fraser Riehle and Dennis Savaiano – presented white papers in Washington, D.C. on April 16 and 17. For the course, which was centered around agriculture and nutrition-related problems in the United States, students spent a significant part of the semester learning about, exploring and researching these problems, then collaborating on white papers that present potential solutions. In Washington D.C., they met with staff at Senator Richard Lugar’s office, the USDA, the National Agriculture Cooperative and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. On April 19, the class debriefed the experience at Greyhouse Coffee, where the course concluded. A fascinating learning experience for the students and professors alike!

Left to right: Eric King, Allison Buenemann, Catherine Shehan, Susanna Taylor, Senator Richard Lugar, Allyson Mercer, Allie Shockley, Amber Furrer and course instructors, Dennis Savaiano and Catherine Fraser Riehle. Photo provided by Senator Lugar’s office.

Librarians to participate in symposium about patron driven acquisitions

The Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame is sponsoring a symposium on the topic of patron-driven acquisitions on May 21. Judith Nixon, Robert Freeman and Suzanne Ward will be presenting “Silent Partners in Collection Development: Patron-Driven Acquisitions at Purdue.”

The symposium, 9 a.m-1 p.m., will be held at the Hesburgh Library Auditorium and is open and free to everyone. Lunch will be provided with an informal roundtable discussion to follow.

To register, simply send your name to Eric Lease Morgan at emorgan@nd.edu. Click here for more details.

Research Grants awarded to Librarians

These most recent research proposals were reviewed by Research Council and approved for research support.

Mary Dugan, poster “Introducing library research databases to agricultural economics students” at the 13th USAIN Biennial Conference, in Minneapolis, MN, April 29-May 2.

Amy Van Epps, presentation “One or Many? Assessing different delivery timing for information resources relevant to assignments during the semester” at the 2012 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), in San Antonio, TX, June 10-13.

Michael Witt presentation “ISO 16363: Trustworthy Digital Repository Certification in Practice” at the 7th International Conference on Open Repositories, in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 9-13.

Libraries Staff A-Z

Catherine Fraser Riehle
Assistant Professor of Library Science,
Instructional Outreach Librarian,
Liaison for Communication, Human Development & Family Studies and Women's Studies
HSSE

Q. What do you enjoy most about your job and why?
A. Teaching. Planning and leading classes and workshops is one of the most fun, challenging and rewarding aspects of my job, and I really enjoy working with students. Teaching keeps me on my toes. I learn as I teach and am always striving to be the best I can.

Q. How long have you worked in the Libraries and at Purdue?
A. 6 years this August.

Q. What is one unforgettable experience that has happened to you or your coworkers while working in the library?
A. A recent trip to Washington, D.C. with my honors class definitely tops the list. Planning the grand opening for the Harry Potter exhibit with Dawn Stahura and others also stands out — we sorted kids into houses with a sorting hat, made wands and other crafts and I believe I made a rather (ahem) convincing Professor Trelawney.

Q. What’s your favorite book, website, movie or database?
A. I have a lot of favorite books. John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors and I also love reading the works of Sherman Alexie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut, Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg.

Q. Coffee, tea, water or soft drink?
A. Yes, please! (Soft drinks would be on the bottom of my list, however.)

Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. I love going on adventures — big and small. I enjoy traveling and exploring new places, and have been just about as excited for trips abroad as for weekend trips to towns and cities in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Gardening, making stuff, playing piano, cooking, eating, walking, spending time with family and friends and festivals all make me happy.