Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017

Mark your calendars! Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017—a community celebration coordinated by the Association of Research Libraries—will take place February 20–24. You can participate on a single day during the week, multiple days, or the full week.

What is Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week?

Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is an annual celebration of the important doctrines of fair use in the United States and fair dealing in Canada and other jurisdictions.

Fair use and fair dealing are essential limitations and exceptions to copyright, allowing the use of copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder under certain circumstances.

Fair use and fair dealing are flexible doctrines, allowing copyright to adapt to new technologies. These doctrines facilitate balance in copyright law, promoting further progress and accommodating freedom of speech and expression.

While fair use and fair dealing are employed on a daily basis by students, faculty, librarians, journalists, and all users of copyrighted material, Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is a time to promote and discuss the opportunities presented, celebrate successful stories, and explain the doctrines.

How can I participate in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week?

Your level of participation in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is entirely up to you. You could publish a blog post on fair use/dealing on one day during the week, or you might host events each day of the week. Below are some examples of ways to participate in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017:

• Write a blog post on fair use/fair dealing.
• Publish an op-ed.
• Host a live panel on fair use at your campus, institution, or organization.
• Host a webcast or webinar.
• Create a video about fair use/fair dealing.
• Publicize fair use on social media using the hashtag #fairuseweek.
  (On Twitter, you can also follow and tag @fairuseweek.)
• Write to your member of Congress highlighting the importance of fair use and how you, your members, or institution/organization rely on fair use.
• Create resources or share existing resources. (See http://fairuseweek.org/resources/ for a great collection of resources developed during last year’s Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week celebration.)
• Submit fair use success stories for the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week blog on Tumblr by sending an e-mail to kyle_courtney@harvard.edu.

More information

Visit http://www.fairuseweek.org or e-mail krista@arl.org for additional information.

The Fair Use Week website will be continually updated with information, a calendar of events, and links to blog posts, webcasts, activities, and resources.

We look forward to celebrating fair use and fair dealing with you February 20–24!

View tweets from Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2017 on Storify.