Open AccessCanadian Collaborations: Library Communications and Advocacy in the time COVID-19
Author(s) -
Christina Winter,
Mark H. Swartz,
Valerie M. Owen,
Ann Ludbrook,
Brianne Selman,
Robert Tiessen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of copyright in education and librarianship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2473-8336
DOI - 10.17161/jcel.v5i1.14920
Subject(s) - covid-19 , face (sociological concept) , pandemic , position (finance) , public relations , political science , digital library , business , world wide web , internet privacy , sociology , computer science , medicine , art , social science , literature , disease , poetry , finance , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , virology , outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic forced libraries to unexpectedly and suddenly close their physical locations, necessitating a remote working environment and a greater reliance on digital and virtual services. While libraries were in a better position than most sectors due to decades of experience in licensing and acquiring digital content and offering virtual services such as chat reference, there still were some services and resources that traditionally had only been offered in a face-to-face environment, or were available in print only. There were questions in the Canadian library community about how, and if these programs could be delivered online and comply with Canadian copyright law. This article will describe the access and copyright challenges that Canadian libraries faced during the first nine months of the pandemic and will outline the collaborative efforts of the Canadian library copyright community to respond to these challenges.