This spring, the Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library is offering online workshops about publication contracts, copyright, and related topics. All members of the CUNY community are welcome, regardless of campus. The workshops are especially well-suited to graduate students, faculty, administrators, and others who seek to formally publish or otherwise disseminate their work.

Copyright and Fair Use for Scholarly Authors

Friday, Mar. 15 at 11:00am-noon (Zoom)

Link to details and registration

This workshop will cover key information about copyright, fair use, and the public domain, and look at how copyright law both complicates and facilitates scholarship. Topics will include:

What kinds of works are covered by copyright?

What rights are included in copyright, and who holds those rights?

How long does copyright last?

What is the public domain, and how do works become part of it?

What is fair use, why does it exist, and how can you determine if a use is fair?

How have court cases changed what qualifies as fair use, and what are the implications of those cases for scholarship?

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Understanding Creative Commons Licenses

Friday, Apr. 5 at 11:00am-noon (Zoom)

Link to details and registration

This workshop will cover key information about Creative Commons (CC) licenses—both using CC-licensed works created by others and adding a CC license to your work. Topics will include:

The relationship between copyright and CC licenses

What the different CC licenses allow users to do

The difference between using a work and making a derivative work

Choosing a license for your work

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Understanding and Negotiating Book Publication Contracts

Friday, May 3 at 11:00am-noon (Zoom)

Link to details and registration

Do you want to publish a book? If so, it’s important to understand the basics of book publication contracts. This workshop will cover the clauses that frequently appear in publication contracts, explain in plain language what these terms mean, and present strategies for negotiating “author-friendly” versions of these clauses.

When you understand and negotiate your book contract, you can maximize your creative, scholarly, and pragmatic goals for your work. Join us to learn more!

By the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development