Canadian Association of Research Libraries Celebrates Fair Dealing Week

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is celebrating Fair Dealing Week 2018 with a major social media campaign and the relaunch of the Fair Dealing Canada website.

Fair Dealing Week 2018 takes place February 26 – March 2.

As interpreted by Canadian courts, fair dealing is a recognized user right under copyright law that allows the use of limited quantities of copyright-protected content without permission from the copyright owner in certain circumstances, such as private study, research, criticism, review and news summary.

In a statement on the CARL website, CARL President and University Librarian at Dalhousie University, Donna Bourne-Tyson explains:

"The federal government is currently undertaking a review of Canada’s copyright legislation, and we as representatives of research libraries feel strongly that this user right must be maintained. While many people do not realize that they themselves make use of fair dealing on a regular basis, those of us who work in education – especially those of us in libraries – not only see the frequent application of this right, but also see the end results: the papers, the theses, the new scholarship and innovation that are the results of having benefited from such uses."

The Fair Dealing Canada website now contains many testimonials showing how Canadian scholars, students and citizens have benefitted from fair dealing.  Readers can follow the social media campaign on Twitter via the  hashtags #fairdealingworks, #faircopyright, #fairdealingweek, #droitdauteur and #utilisationequitable.