Digital technology has greatly increased access to music, both recordings and scores, protected by copyright. A large body of research addresses intellectual property (IP) issues in the recorded music industry, and Diane Parr Walker discusses how American copyright law adversely affects digital music libraries. However, the use of digitally accessible scores among Canadian classical music professionals remains largely overlooked. This paper provides the background for a research project investigating the relationship between copyright law and Canadian classical musicians in the digital age. The project will use a Canada-wide survey and a series of focus groups to analyze the everyday information-seeking behaviours of classical music professionals and to examine the intellectual property policies that encourage musicians to obey or contravene the law.

Undergraduate students have a limited knowledge of copyright basics. In order to fill this knowledge gap, I seek to engage undergraduates by providing them with an understanding of the ethics around copyright law, of their rights over their own contributions to their scholarly communities, of the availability of Creative Commons-licensed materials, and of how to exercise their fair use rights. Basic knowledge of these concepts is not only an integral part of understanding and engaging with information, but it also has the potential to motivate informed attitudes and behaviors around copyright. With this in mind, I designed an undergraduate class on copyright and fair use fundamentals that can be incorporated into any introductory college or university library instruction course or can be treated as a stand-alone session.