Sound advice from the UOM Library Events Manager – Kylie Nickels

On behalf of Kylie Nickels:

I evolved into Event Management at UOM. It’s a good fit for me, it suits my anal, list making nature.

I now manage events for the University Library. Last year we hosted approx eighteen events. Guests come from far and wide, Library & UOM staff and students, members of University Council, Exec, CAUL, SIAG, Friends of the Baillieu, Heads and Deans, librarians from other institutions, key interest groups and stakeholders and international visitors. Last year we opened new library spaces at the Brownless Biomedical Library, celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Archives, hosted a Scholarly Information Innovation Grants Showcase with Glyn Davis and John Dewar, reopened the Grainger museum after a seven year major redevelopment, opened exhibitions from Special Collections on Wilson Hall, Banned Books and Colonial Dentistry as well as hosted a series of Information Futures Forums engaging with visiting keynote and international speakers to hear about latest developments in our field/s. I love my job, it’s something different every day.

A couple of years ago, at Brooke’s suggestion I went along to a short workshop that the Copyright Office put together on this exact topic, ie, Copyright and Events. Time well spent my friends!!

I came away from that session remembering one thing….if in doubt, just contact the Copyright Office.  They know it all, they don’t expect me to remember it…and they are really helpful!

A case in point. I often use images on invitations, emails etc. Publications/Collections and Copyright always work together to make sure all is up to scratch when these are going onto an official invitation. It was the more informal stuff, when I wanted an image to give something more punch that I’d get stuck in the copyright quagmire. Copyright office explained public domain to me and showed me how to improve my searching (by ticking a few boxes) so that I only got back images that I could use. Now every search I do gives me compliant options. I don’t have to worry (afterwards) about copyright, I know that all images selected are good to go!

So next time you are event planning away, and something in your head goes ping, with a kind of “Hmm, I wonder who owns this/made this/wrote this/drew this/played this in the first place”, shoot the Copyright Office an email, they are fantastic and just love all those clauses and regulations, they’ll give you a straight “Yep, go for it” or “No, but if you do this then that’s ok”. Making copyright simple, that’s what they do best.