Copyright Audit

[CHR1S]

Just been told to expect a copyright audit...

 

What the hell is one of those?

 

Anyone been through one before?

[jamesb]

Umm...

 

It's supposed to help you go through and work out which bits of intellectual property you have that you should be protecting, but aren't.

 

I don't really see how it'd benefit a school, unless someone wants to start copyrighting their own lesson plans to prevent others from using them. Do you have some sort of super-important process or bit of intellectual property which could be commercially sold?

 

Edit: Might end up being one of the shortest audits ever recorded.

[localzuk]

Erm. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick there jamesb. Copyright audits are usually checks to ensure you have licenses to use the things you use. eg. check that you aren't breaching anyone's copyright.

[TechMonkey]

Depends on who it is by. I remember a while back BSA or FAST were mailing out letters saying they were going to be auditing you and the advice was to ignore it, not let them in, they had no power or authority. Make sure you are covered obviously but don't entertain these groups that are mainly out for headlines to scare others by. I'll see if I can dig up the article I was reading.

[jamesb]

Erm. I think you've got the wrong end of the stick there jamesb. Copyright audits are usually checks to ensure you have licenses to use the things you use. eg. check that you aren't breaching anyone's copyright.

 

Isn't that a licensing audit? Last copyright audit I suffered through was about deciding what to try and enforce copyright on, licensing audits are a different matter. Probably the terms are used to mean the same thing in different areas.

[GrumbleDook]

It depends on who is doing it ... copyright audit can take three forms.

1 - solely looking to protect the assets of the school, resources created by staff under contract and how these can then be used for income generation for the school. This sometimes means a renegotiation of contract with staff who may have already published some of their materials under CC licence or just given them away. The hunt to find these items on the internet is often part of this.

2 - looking purely at how any copyrighted materials are used in school to check that only materials, resources, software and IP is used where there are assigned rights to do so, that the appropriate fees have been paid to make use of them wherever required and that there are processes in place to ensure that any purchased resources / licences are logged and has a control mechanism about who/how/where they can be used

3 - a combination of the above, often to double check that any resources which are going to be used by a school as income generation the school has full rights to those materials.

 

Paraphrased from some docs I have previously been sent by organisations offering to do the above.

[CHR1S]

I think its number 2!

 

Waiting for the information to make its way to me, ill update as I find out.

 

Thanks all

 

 

Edit - I think they want us to record every photocopy we do, sheet music and something about internet downloads.

[Pyroman]

If it's to do with the photocopiers we had one of those, you basically make a copy of the ISBN number of the source material and put a sticker on it stating how many copies you made of it and stick it in a cardboard bin they provide

[CHR1S]

If it's to do with the photocopiers we had one of those, you basically make a copy of the ISBN number of the source material and put a sticker on it stating how many copies you made of it and stick it in a cardboard bin they provide

 

So its just a waste of everyone's time or has some relevance to something important?

[GrumbleDook]

definitely sounds like number 2.

 

Occasionally you will see an audit done to check that the rules are being followed with regards to the percentage of books being copied, the copying of sheet music rather than the purchase of additional copies and internet downloads might be related to eBooks or other materials normally accessed in paper format, which may mean that the school is trying to bypass copyright rules / regs / law.

[GrumbleDook]

So its just a waste of everyone's time or has some relevance to something important?

 

It is important as it is making sure that publishers and authors get paid for their work. Whilst many folk might not agree with copyright law, it is the law and it is about how people get paid for their work.

[CHR1S]

Right, I have the letters, its a CLA Survey of Copyright Copying.

 

@GD, I appreciate its to ensure people get paid but its a (seemingly) large task to record all copies, scans and web downloads for an entire term and can see me being the person that has to administer it.

[GrumbleDook]

@CHR1S

To be honest, CLA would say it is something that should be covered already and so should be no extra work for the school ... in reality though ...

Web downloads should be you, but copies / scans should be by whoever manages reprographics in your school. You might be able to help with a simple web form to log what is being done if you have no other tracking / request mechanism for photocopying.

[CHR1S]

Oh dear do the CLA not realise who they are dealing with??

 

They require over a 50 working day period -

 

Every book that is copied has to have for each copy -

Copy of ISBN information page

The survey label completed, including ref number, department, pages copied, number of copies and intended recipients.

 

For copies of magazines -

Copy of the article in full

ISSN number

The survey label completed, including ref number, department, pages copied, number of copies and intended recipients.

 

Any staff created resources or planning that uses or references copyright material-

Copy of the document in full

The survey label completed, including ref number, department, pages copied, number of copies and intended recipients.

 

Same applies for any of the above items scanned!

 

EBooks, Free to view websites -

 

The web logging survey completed, including ref number.

Name of website or digital publication

Relevant bibliographic information on website or ebook

Number of recipients and how distributed

 

 

Can they really see staff (especially teachers doing this for 50 working days) religiously doing this on a daily basis and expecting it to provide an honest representation of copyright copies being done?

[CHR1S]

@CHR1S

To be honest, CLA would say it is something that should be covered already and so should be no extra work for the school ... in reality though ...

Web downloads should be you, but copies / scans should be by whoever manages reprographics in your school. You might be able to help with a simple web form to log what is being done if you have no other tracking / request mechanism for photocopying.

 

No one manages reprographics! Staff copy their own stuff or get a TA to do it.

 

Web downloads should be me?

Please explain how I should be monitoring every download or copy paste job from a listed website as part of my daily job?

[GrumbleDook]

They are only usually that hard on you if they know the school, institute, etc has been extracting the urine. Someone must have made a serious complaint.

 

Rather than do something Heath-Robinson or create a massive manual process to cover the above it might be worth requesting a grace period to allow you to finish setting up systems to efficiently monitor all this ... and then sit down and plan it properly ... use of QR codes perhaps, infopath for forms in sharepoint for tracking, etc ...

 

Speak to some of the local universities about how they do it too. They might be able to suggest software, or at least suggest the corners which can be cut.

[GrumbleDook]

No one manages reprographics! Staff copy their own stuff or get a TA to do it.

 

Web downloads should be me?

Please explain how I should be monitoring every download or copy paste job from a listed website as part of my daily job?

 

The downloads are just in your 'net access logs. I don't know what you use for filtering but this should provide it. The copy and paste info is not trackable by electronic means other than to sites visited and educating users (staff & students) about correct referencing. The auditors should then sample student and staff work to say if the referencing has been done properly or not. If they are asking the impossible then you should ask for examples of others systems for comparison as you do not believe their request is achievable.

[CHR1S]

Without sounding flippant, this is an Infant & Nursery school and this is the first I have ever heard of such a thing AND dont see how its my job... (im sure thats been said before lol)

[sonofsanta]

Without sounding flippant, this is an Infant & Nursery school and this is the first I have ever heard of such a thing AND dont see how its my job... (im sure thats been said before lol)

 

I'm sorry, but the need for citation can never be impressed early enough!

[CHR1S]

I'm sorry, but the need for citation can never be impressed early enough!

 

Your kidding me right?

[localzuk]

Your kidding me right?

 

He's got a point. Pupils should be taught not to copy/paste random text of the internet unless they cite where they got it from. We're forever seeing people being caught out for plagiarising, so this is an important thing to teach.

 

However, that list of demands is a bit harsh - that is going to be a lot of work for people.

 

EDIT: Holy hell, 10,000th post!!!

[CHR1S]

However, that list of demands is a bit harsh - that is going to be a lot of work for people.

 

EDIT: Holy hell, 10,000th post!!!

 

I understand, but, we are talking about 4 to 7 year olds! ( I appreciate staff should be aware) But its not like we are reselling our lesson plans or something

 

Congrats, It wont let me rep you up tho

[localzuk]

I understand, but, we are talking about 4 to 7 year olds! ( I appreciate staff should be aware) But its not like we are reselling our lesson plans or something

 

Oh, I'm not advocating obsessing over it, just making sure even at an early age that they know copying is bad.

 

Congrats, It wont let me rep you up tho

 

Thanks

[GrumbleDook]

I understand, but, we are talking about 4 to 7 year olds! ( I appreciate staff should be aware) But its not like we are reselling our lesson plans or something

 

Congrats, It wont let me rep you up tho

 

To some extent it is aimed quite heavily at staff, and making sure staff are doing the right thing. It is a heck of a lot of work and they are exacting, but the idea is to stop people cutting corners. It just highlights the problems that people can have with copyright ... if only it was all so much easier and simpler.

[Ketlane]

Getting it wrong and copying beyond (or without) a licence can be very expensive. I've tried and failed to find the details of a school that was hit hard - pupil files and books checked for copyright material which had to be removed. And staff seem often to be unaware that material they create as part of their employment is not their copyright, but their employer's. With so many of these tihngs all you can do is be vigilant and ensure that the message is repeated time and again. Having the CLA information posted above the photocopiers helps.