Electronic Resources in the Virtual Learning

Creative Commons 
When discussing copyright and the Internet the ‘Creative Commons’
movement (http://creativecommons.org/) is gaining considerable support
in the education sector. The movement argues that it is trying to strike a
balance between an overly restricted world where no information can
ever be copied, and one in which anarchy prevails and those who create
content are left vulnerable to exploitation. The movement was founded
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in 2001 by the Center for Public Domain (http://www.centerpd.org/) in
the US. Put simply:
Creative Commons has developed a Web application that helps
people dedicate their creative works to the public domain – or retain
their copyright while licensing them as free for certain uses, on certain
conditions.
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The licences can be used with various forms of creative works, such as
websites, scholarship, music, film, photography, literature, courseware,
etc. The licences are being developed in machine-readable form, so that
people can use the Creative Commons search application to find
material that can be reused without additional costs. The initiative was
launched in the UK in January 2004, although there is still some
uncertainty about the validity of Creative Commons licences outside the
US. These forms of licences are being considered as part of the JISC
DRM study, mentioned earlier in this chapter. The final report from this
project, due in late 2004, should include further information about this
topic.
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Linking to or downloading from electronic library
resources
Your university or institution library will subscribe to a range of digital
resources that are licensed for use by your staff and students. These can
be anything from image collections, such as the Education Image Gallery
discussed above, to electronic journal collections such as JSTOR or
specialist subject indexes such as EconLit or Sociological Abstracts.
Establishing links to these resources from within the VLE is an excellent
way of directing students to use library resources to exploit these
collections, and usually does not necessitate paying additional copyright
fees. Subject specialists in the library are well placed to advise academic
staff about the inclusion of links to such resources within their course
website. These can be tailored according to the individual course, and
there may be links to ‘top level’ resources. For example, a link can be
added to access the EconLit database alongside some advice about how
to search this resource. Alternatively the link could be a deep link to a
specific resource, such as a journal article that students are required to
read.
Digital library resources are subject to licence agreements that should
be consulted for information about deep linking and whether they allow
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material to be downloaded and reused within the VLE. Most electronic
journal providers allow ‘article level’ linking from course websites, and
provide instructions on how these are established. This type of integration
between the VLE and electronic resources is extremely valuable to
students and to staff. It is also an area where librarians may need to
provide support and training for staff. Chapter 6 therefore includes
detailed information about how to establish article level links from many
of the major electronic journal providers. Generally, establishing links to
these resources is unproblematic; however, if teaching staff wish to
download material such as journal articles and upload it directly into
their course website, this should be undertaken with care – and after a
detailed scrutiny of the licence agreement to check that this is permitted.