I realized I needed to learn more about fair use last year when the number of questions I received from faculty on the topic increased from one every few months to a few questions a week. I had never had an interest in anything related to copyright because it just sounded so boring (and honestly, sometimes it still does). But I wanted to be able to answer these faculty questions with confidence, so I took a deep breath and dove into the world of fair use.

Lucky for me, there are a ton of excellent resources out there. Here are some of my favorites:

• ARL Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries
• Fair Use Checklist from Columbia University
• Fair Use Evaluator
• Standford Copyright & Fair Use Center
  

So now Fair Use Week is coming up next week, and I’m planning to put this fair use expertise to good use in a social media campaign, similar to what we did for Love Data Week. I’ll share some basic fair use information, like the four factors of fair use, plus helpful resources like those listed above. This activity will provide some good outreach for the library, and give me an opportunity to improve my social media marketing!