Ethical and Legal Use of Information by University Students: The Core Content of a Training Program

Abstract

Most intellectual works used by university students are copyrighted, which means there is a conflict between upholding these rights and respecting the use and access of works to develop their activities of learning and research. Yet students are not only the users of intellectual works—they are also creators, producing monographic works on assignment in the course of their undergraduate or graduate studies, whose copyright belongs to them. This close relationship between the activities of university students and the rights of authors has become more complicated with the development of the digital setting. There are far greater possibilities for creating, using and distributing digital information nowadays, but at the same time copyright legislation has become increasingly complex and restrictive. There is clearly a need to have basic knowledge regarding copyright in order to proceed in a proper way in the academic realm, and this need is addressed in the main information literacy standards. As a result, university libraries have taken on a new professional role, preparing their users to face the fundamental challenges for a proper use of information. We present a draft for a training program based on three pillars: examination of the information literacy standards/framework; analysis of the main points of intersection or friction between copyright and university students´ activities; and finally, the responses to a questionnaire by a sample of students from a Spanish university.