Copyright literacy of library and information science professionals in Bangladesh

Introduction

Copyright is part of the wider body of law known as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The term ‘copyright literacy’ was used by the originator (Tania Todorova) of the multinational survey ‘Copyright Literacy of specialists from libraries and other cultural institutions’, ¹ and is part of a wider recognition that there is an increasing range of knowledge, skills and behaviors that individuals require when working with copyright content in the digital age.

Morrison and Secker (2015: 211) define copyright literacy as ‘acquiring and demonstrating the appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors to enable the ethical creation and use of copyright material’. They recognized that copyright literacy pertains to not only accumulating knowledge about copyright but also practicing associated skills and behaviors to enable that material to be used effectively. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) (2018a) stated that copyright literacy includes understanding the structure, functioning and implications of the copyright system, as laws, practices and user expectations evolve.

As a result of recent developments in information formats and the open access movement, everyday copyright law affects the way libraries provide information to their users and every outcome can directly affect the future of libraries (American Library Association (ALA), 2019) and libraries face more and more complicated intellectual property and copyright issues than in the past. Traditionally, libraries are leaders in trying to maintain a balance of power between copyright holders and users or at the very least advocate for intellectual freedom and promote access to information (Nilsson, 2015) in keeping with the fundamental principles outlined in local and international constitutions over the years. However, the ALA (2019) stated that the digital age presents new challenges to fundamental copyright doctrines that are the legal cornerstones of library services. Copyright laws around the world are constantly changing in an attempt to adapt – or react – to the digital world or to address new technologies as electronic resources come to represent a larger percentage of libraries’ resources and services. Most importantly, the changing landscape of information acquisition, storage, use and reuse has a profound impact on copyright laws and intellectual properties. These changes can have a major impact on how libraries function and on the public service they provide and librarians are the first port of call for advice on copyright and IPR matters.

As traditional skills and aspects of librarianship have changed, partly due to the complex development of scholarly communication, digital collections, and the demands of new services related to e-resources, publishing and copyright, librarians often do not feel confident in their knowledge about copyright and are, therefore, hesitant to take on this new role (Nilsson, 2015). Not only are librarians, as professionals, bound to uphold the values and ethics of our profession of which copyright is one, but it is our role to protect the copyright of those who allow us, as a public service, to lend their property to others. To do this, librarians and other information management professionals need to be copyright literate, in order to both carry out their own functions and duties, and to support colleagues and users in the most effective way possible (IFLA, 2018b). Hence, there is a need for basic knowledge and for staying up-to-date on new developments about copyright and it is crucial to continue to address the emerging challenges posed at the intersection of technology, society and law.

To address these knowledge demands, there are a variety of learning opportunities for library and information science (LIS) professionals and ways to support them in keeping current professionally. IFLA, for example, released a ‘Getting Started’ guide (https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/71175) for librarians in countries where a Treaty has been implemented, helping them to make full use of its provisions. Since 2016, Chris Morrison of the University of Kent, Jane Secker of City, University of London, together with Tania Todorova of University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia have developed a dedicated webpage (https://copyrightliteracy.org/about-2/international-copyright-literacy/) making visible and accessible the results of the international research collaboration that act as a focus for disseminating research, publications, presentations, seminars, symposiums and news items from the international copyright literacy community of practice in Europe and beyond. In the US, the Library of Congress and the ALA have long been conducting research on the impact of copyright law and policy and have offered guidelines to libraries and related information institutions (Association of Research Libraries (ARL), n.d.). According to Nilsson (2015), there are many developments in the field of librarianship which serve to educate patrons about copyright issues including national, regional and international copyright webinars and thematic workshops, online tutorials and courses, education programs in LIS, participation in conferences and discussion lists, collaboration with other copyright professionals and library organizations and self-directed learning and self-training.

Literature review

Libraries and other cultural institutions play an important role as a balance point between two major components in the copyright equation: respecting the rights of ‘information owners’, and ‘information users’ (Todorova et al., 2017). Balanced copyright law is critical to libraries being able to fulfill their missions of preserving and providing access to the cultural and historical records (ARL, n.d.) regardless of their setting. In particular, scholars have confronted the challenges posed by libraries seeking to collect eBooks (McKenzie, 2013), music acquired from services such as iTunes (Pessach, 2008), video recording and streaming (Schmidt, 2019) such as Spotify, open-access resources, research data management and sharing. Collecting and sharing these popular materials is increasingly ‘essential to university-level classes’ (King, 2014: 293) and for attracting patrons to the library (Cross, 2016).

Libraries often pay for access to, not ownership of content, and that content will only be available as long as the publisher/provider’s status and catalog remain the same (Schmidt, 2019). Cross (2012) pointed out that as nonprofit institutions that serve the public good, libraries make many uses that fit comfortably under the aegis of fair use. In short, libraries should use all possibilities provided by the law to give access and enable learning. To do this, librarians and other information workers need to be copyright literate, in order to both carry out their own functions and duties and to support colleagues and users, in the most effective way possible. The Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) (2014) recommend that libraries and librarians make sure that they have the infrastructure and technical ability to create the streaming copy, host it, and provide the security necessary to restrict further dissemination.

LIS professionals and those who work in related sectors are increasingly challenged by copyright issues. This is particularly apparent with the shift towards delivering traditional services such as inter-library loans and core readings for students in digital format (Morrison and Secker, 2015) and recently the open access movement. The twin trends of globalization and digitization have made the challenge acute. In a globalized world, researchers, students and even ordinary citizens expect to be able to access information without being confronted with national borders (IFLA, 2018a). Yet a WIPO study shows that libraries and archives work under a patchwork of provisions that differ in scope and influence from country to country, making cross-border working unnecessarily complicated (Crews, 2015). At the same time, the shift to digital formats has allowed a much greater degree of control over what libraries and their users can and cannot do with the materials to which they have access. This can threaten their traditional roles of providing access to knowledge and preserving our cultural and scientific heritage (IFLA, 2018a).

In its Statement on Copyright Education and Copyright Literacy, IFLA (2018b) pointed out that developing and updating copyright literacy requires copyright education. Todorova et al. (2017) summarized in their multinational studies on copyright that it is essential for LIS professionals to develop high levels of copyright literacy (knowledge and skills) and the ability to implement institutional copyright policy. Traditionally, professional qualifications in this sector have included an awareness of copyright law as part of the wider legal framework in which organizations operate (Morrison and Secker, 2015). While not attorneys, librarians have developed an awareness and understanding of copyright law, legislation and practice as they relate to a wide variety of library activities.

Crews (2012) explains copyright law in the context of education, research, and librarianship. He breaks down copyright law and concentrates much of his discussion on the built-in statutory exceptions that particularly apply to educators and librarians such as fair use, library copying, distance learning, computer software, architectural works, and special formats for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. Thereafter, Nilsson (2015) listed some fundamental competencies for LIS professionals in the field of copyright/IPR which includes: rights, exceptions (fair use) and limitations, database licensing and digitized course material, operating institutional repositories, creative approaches and alternatives including Creative Commons. Open educational resources, open and research data management and sharing could also be added to Nilsson’s list as emerging trends in scholarship and in librarianship where copyright is vital. LIS professionals, those who deal with copyright and IPR, should take the first step by engaging with these emerging areas to meet their mission in a way that honors the core legal principles that have always supported librarianship in the service of society.

Copyright concerns often arise among those working in a library and basic knowledge of copyright features in most library professional qualifications (Secker and Morrison, 2016). Prior to the ‘Multinational Copyright Literacy Survey 2012–2017’ (see details at https://copyrightliteracy.org/about-2/international-copyright-literacy/), there had previously been little research examining copyright knowledge either in the wider education community or in the library and information profession (Morrison and Secker, 2015). Olaka and Adkins (2012) carried out a study on copyright knowledge of academic librarians in Kenya that was prompted by the growing role for librarians to educate library users about copyright issues in light of increasing infringement. In the UK, a survey by Oppenheim and Woodward (2004) is perhaps of greatest relevance, for it investigated copyright advice and guidance services offered by UK libraries.

Despite its significant importance, the literacy level around copyright and related issues of LIS professionals has been explored by only a few studies (Naheem, 2017) and in Bangladesh, no related study has been undertaken as of 2019. The survey ‘Copyright Literacy of Bangladeshi LIS Professionals’, is therefore of great significance in order to explore whether the level of copyright literacy of Bangladeshi library professionals is up to standard. If not, this could provide opportunities for collaboration between library professionals and educators, in order to embed copyright and wider intellectual property rights issues into course curricula at both continuous and higher education levels. Librarians, LIS faculty, educators, researchers and other local and global readers will also benefit from this research regarding their copyright expertise.

The objective of the survey

The main objective was to explore the copyright literacy of Bangladeshi LIS professionals. The subsequent objectives were:

to comprehend the knowledge and awareness of Bangladeshi LIS professionals pertaining to copyright and IPR;

Methodology

To be able to explore the copyright literacy of Bangladeshi LIS professionals, a quantitative web-based survey was conducted using a Google form adapted from an international research project called ‘Copyright Policies of Libraries and Other Cultural Institutions’ ¹ during November 2018 to January 2019. The same survey was conducted in many other countries, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America in the period 2012–2017 using the same questionnaire.

The questionnaire included 22 questions, most of which had closed response options, and was divided into four sections. The first part of the survey aimed to establish the knowledge and awareness of the respondents on issues of copyright. Part two then explored the opinions of the respondents towards institutional level copyright policy. Section three examined attitudes towards formal copyright education and continuous education, for example in library, archival and cultural heritage professional qualifications. Finally, the last section gathered demographic information including age, gender and educational and professional experience of the respondents. The survey included closed, Semi-open (utilizing a 5-point Likert scale) and open-ended questions.

To make the survey more comprehensive and user-friendly for the non-native participants, the questionnaire was partly translated (mostly questions, not the response options) into Bengali by a professional translator. There were a few minor amendments undertaken for the Likert scale-based questions, too. For example, instead of ‘Not Familiar, Slightly Familiar, Somewhat Familiar, Moderately Familiar, Extremely Familiar’ this study used ‘Low, Moderate, Good, Very good, Excellent’. Also, ‘Uncertain’ was substituted with ‘Unsure’. Then the online questionnaire was shared with the target population: the LIS professionals of Bangladesh on professional mailing lists and on Facebook groups.

Completed responses were received, automatically recorded and tabulated through Google Forms. For open-ended questions, respondents submitted comments in English, which therefore did not require any further translation. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings and Chi-square tests of independence were applied to compare various factors. Some respondents opted not to respond to all survey questions. The missing responses are reflected in the varying sample size (n) values. Respondents from one school and one public library are included in ‘Other’ (n = 4) for the ease of data analysis.

In addition to this, in-depth desk research was conducted via Google, Google Scholar, EBSCO and JSTOR databases using Bengali and English keywords, e.g. ‘Copyright law in Bangladesh’; ‘Librarian AND copyright law AND Bangladesh’; ‘Intellectual Property rights in Bangladesh’ and ‘Copyright AND Intellectual Property rights in Bangladesh’. Some of these keywords were combined using the Boolean operator ‘AND’ for retrieving related information. Diverse project reports from IFLA, WIPO, the National Library of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Copyright Office, and local Bengali and English newspapers were consulted. Overall, there was no identifiable primary literature related to copyright/IPR literacy of Bangladeshi LIS professionals.

Results and data analysis

The bulk of the survey asked respondents to rate their perceived familiarity with different areas of copyright, at both national and international levels. More than 80% of respondents felt they were at least somewhat aware of copyright issues, while more than half felt they had a moderate to a very good level of awareness. Nearly half (48.3%) of the respondents acknowledged that they were ‘very much’ interested in the initiatives of national and international libraries and other professional associations on issues related to copyright/IPR. On the whole, however, respondents were much more familiar with national copyright issues than they were with international copyright/IPR. More than 90% were at least somewhat familiar with national copyright law, and more than 56% with the national copyright institutions.

General knowledge and awareness of copyright

The first section of the survey explored the general level of knowledge and awareness of a variety of copyright issues. Respondents were asked to comment on their overall familiarity with copyright/IPR issues using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Low) to 5 (Excellent). Out of 59 survey respondents, 39% indicated a good awareness level of copyright, 34% indicated a moderate awareness, and 13.6% of respondents indicated a low awareness level. The remaining 15% of respondents indicated very good and excellent awareness levels as presented in Figure 1. The obvious lack in awareness concerns copy-left, ³ Creative Commons, out-of-print and orphan works. Surprisingly, many of the participating LIS professionals in Bangladesh had a good familiarity with some emerging topics such as licensing, digitization and institutional repositories.

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Figure 1.

LIS professionals’ general copyright awareness level (n = 59).

Figure 2 compares the education levels and copyright/IPR awareness of 59 respondents which ranges from Bachelor to Doctoral degrees with the bulk concentrated at the Master’s level (86.7%), followed by PhD (6.7%). Data analysis shows that generally, Master’s degree holders have ‘Good’ awareness about copyright/IPR. All but two respondents at the Bachelor’s level indicated only a low level of copyright literacy. Does this mean that LIS schools in Bangladesh have less focus on copyright/IPR issues at the Bachelor degree level? The respondents at the Master’s level are spread throughout the 5-point Likert scale (Low, Moderate, Good, Very Good and Excellent) with the highest concentration almost equally divided between moderate (34.6%) and good (38.4%) awareness of copyright. A few Master’s degree holding respondents indicated that their awareness levels are ‘Very good’ (9.6%) and ‘Excellent’ (3.8%).

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Figure 2.

Education vs general copyright/IPR awareness level (n = 59).

Knowledge of copyright policies and procedures was examined across library sectors – private, public, special and college – as well as LIS faculty and ‘Others’ using a 5-point Likert scale. What is curious is that four times the number of respondents with a moderate knowledge of copyright/IPR are employed in private university libraries (48.15%). Most of the public universities and special library professionals claimed ‘good’ awareness of copyright/IPR. The remainder of the respondents are scattered in the single digits in their copyright awareness across the sectors. Across all respondents in this category, only three LIS faculty possess ‘moderate’ to ‘good’ awareness of copyright/IPR policy as detailed in Figure 3.

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Figure 3.

Participants’ working sector vs their copyright/IPR literacy (n = 59).

Familiarity with licensing, fair use and exceptional issues

Figure 4 represents familiarity with copyright related to licensing, fair use and exceptional issues. An equal number of respondents (44%), indicated a familiarity with licensing conditions at their institutions and with copyright requirements for developing institutional repositories. Surprisingly a good number of respondents indicated their familiarity with two emerging areas: namely copyright issues or solutions regarding virtual services within e-learning practices (74.5%) and copyright issues regarding digitization (49.1%) although these are fairly new to Bangladeshi LIS professionals. The obvious lack of awareness are Creative Commons licenses (22%) and fair use guidelines (35.5%), and they are crucial to the work of teaching, institutional repositories, and research data sharing.

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Figure 4.

Familiarity with licensing, fair use and exceptional issues (n = 59).

The survey explored how respondents kept up to date with copyright/IPR issues in the context of their work. Figure 5 confirms that, in Bangladesh, for copyright-related advice, LIS professionals primarily rely on experts from the academic community (69%), national library and professional associations (59%), followed by international associations such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) (49%), International Council on Archives (ICA) (44%), IFLA (44%) and WIPO (41%). In general, respondents seem much more interested in getting advice from professionals than reading books, articles, websites or taking advice from colleagues and lawyers. This data demonstrates the important role of professional associations to provide information on copyright-related issues in Bangladesh. However, results from other survey participant countries, for example, UK (76%), France (77.5%) and India (82.29%) show that LIS professionals of those countries primarily use websites as a primary source of information related to copyright/IPR.

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Figure 5.

Copyright information resources consulted by respondents (n = 59).

Copyright policy at an institutional level

Institutional-level copyright issues and policies were explored in this survey. Respondents were asked whether their institutions owned resources protected by copyright, whether they believed libraries should have a copyright policy and whether there was someone responsible for copyright issues in their institution. Over 70% of respondents answered that their institution had resources protected by copyright and thought that institutional copyright policy was necessary for libraries and other cultural institutions. Although it is necessary to have an institutional copyright policy, almost half of the respondents reported that their institutions did not have one.

Additionally, 40% responded that their institutions had put copyright/IPR policy in place and, surprisingly, 11.6% were unsure whether or not their institutions had a copyright/IPR policy, as shown in Figure 6. Only 21.6% of respondents (13 institutions) stated that they had a person in their organization responsible for copyright matters, which seemed relatively low compared to other survey participant countries such as the UK (64%), India (47.92%) and Spain (38.6%) but higher than France (18.6%) and Turkey (18%).

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Figure 6.

Copyright policy at an institutional level (n = 60).

Persons responsible for copyright/IPR issues across the sectors

Further data analysis was undertaken to explore if the existence of copyright/IPR policy or a person responsible for copyright differed across the sectors as depicted in Figures 7 and 8. From these two figures, it can be said that university libraries are more likely to have an institutional policy and a person responsible for copyright issues, although the percentage is very low compared to other countries where this survey was carried out during 2012–2017.

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Figure 7.

Copyright policy or internal IPR regulation by sector (n = 60).

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Figure 8.

Persons responsible for copyright/IPR issues across the sectors (n = 60).

Overall, data from Figures 7 and 8 indicate that most, if not many higher educational institutions in Bangladesh, have no institutional level copyright policy in existence and no specific person is responsible for copyright/IPR issues. The scenario is slightly better in university and special libraries as these are as these are far more likely to be involved in research and responsible for institutional-level knowledge creation and dissemination, where copyright/IPR are vital.

Copyright and education

In this section, the survey participants’ opinions were sought on the inclusion of copyright-related topics in LIS education, the appropriate level for introducing copyright topics in LIS programs and the appropriate mode for continuing education for copyright/IPR. In the open-ended questions, the survey asked which topics should be included in formal and continuous LIS education. A few respondents expressed the need to understand a wide variety of topics related to copyright/IPR. As one respondent indicated:

Copyright, license issue for e-resources, Institutional Repository policy issue, open access issues, and different criteria for e-publishing issues.

Some others stated that copyright education should focus on ‘E-resources, Statistical reports, Periodical materials’, ‘ICT Related Issues’, ‘Copy right act for digital collection’ and ‘open access and copyright’.

Almost all of the respondents are in favor of including copyright issues in the LIS education curriculum as well as in continuing education. Regarding the question concerning the appropriate level of LIS education to introduce copyright, the majority of respondents considered undergraduate level (46.7%) the most appropriate, followed by ‘all (Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD) LIS education levels’ (31.7%), Master’s (18.3%) and PhD curricula (3.3%) as illustrated in Figure 9.

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Figure 9.

Opinion about appropriate education level for introducing copyright/IPR (n = 60).

Further on, the survey asked for respondents’ preferences for accessing continuous education in the LIS discipline. Training courses were the most popular (96%), with thematic workshops being the next popular (74.5%). Consultations on request, distance learning or e-learning and thematic electronic resources – websites, blogs, and wikis – were less popular for continuous education among LIS professionals in Bangladesh as detailed in Figure 10.

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Figure 10.

Preference for the delivery of continuous copyright/IPR education (n = 60).

Discussion and comparisons with other surveyed countries

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study exploring the familiarity, knowledge, awareness and views about copyright of Bangladeshi LIS professionals. The results of this study suggest that librarians overall are at least somewhat familiar with a wide range of copyright/IPR issues and topics. There is good familiarity with some emerging topics such as licensing, digitization and institutional repositories, and moderate familiarity with open access, open data and fair use. However, areas that are less familiar include copy-left, Creative Commons, out-of-print and orphan works.

The study also reveals that the levels of copyright/IPR literacy amongst this group are moderate compared to other surveyed countries such as the UK, USA, Turkey, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia and India. Comparing the levels of confidence in copyright issues among the sectors suggests that university librarians are more confident than those working in other institutional libraries. There could be a number of reasons for this as university libraries are more likely to have an individual with specific responsibility for copyright matters, they are larger organizations than the others that participated in this survey, or at the very least have a department or unit that deals with copyright issues.

About 32% of Bangladeshi LIS professionals are moderately aware of copyright/IPR issues compared to 40% of UK (Morrison and Secker, 2015), 34% of French and 13% of Croatian (Todorova et al., 2014), and 23% of Indian (Naheem, 2017) respondents. Regarding the knowledge and awareness of national copyright policy, in general, this is somewhat lacking, particularly regarding the existence of the rights for librarians to provide modified copies of works to serve the needs of visually impaired patrons and the existence of orphan works, e.g. with a compulsory license or limitation of liability. Alongside LIS schools, the National Library of Bangladesh can also be a proactive stakeholder to improve knowledge and awareness of national copyright policy. With regard to institutional-level copyright/IPR policy, more than 86% percent of respondents thought institutions should have a copyright policy, yet only 40% actually have one. This compares to 63% of institutions in the UK (Morrison and Secker, 2015), 62.5% in India (Naheem, 2017), 34.7% in France (Boustany, 2014), 34% in Turkey and 33.5% in Spain (Arias-Coello and Simón-Martín, 2017) having a copyright policy.

Despite the importance of issues dealing with copyright/IPR, slightly more than one-fifth (21.67%) of institutions in Bangladesh have a person in charge of questions dealing with copyright/IPR compared to 38% in Spain (Arias-Coello and Simón-Martín, 2017), 47.9% in India (Naheem, 2017), 64% in the UK and only 15% of institutions surveyed in Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey and France (Morrison and Secker, 2015). In Bangladesh, it is important to find out the actual reason for the low number of employees in charge of copyright matters despite its increasing importance. If it is because of the lack of knowledge and expertise, active collaboration with LIS schools and professional associations for training is suggested. However, if it is because institutions find it unnecessary, this could be an important indicator of the lack of awareness at the institutional level which needs to be addressed at the National Copyright Office, National Library, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Law, University Grant Commission and other related stakeholders.

Finally, there are also clear preferences for the delivery of formal copyright education and continuing education training. Regarding the appropriate amount and inclusion of copyright issues in the curricula of LIS education, most of the respondents agree that content should be included in more than one level of the three cycles (Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD) in higher education (31.7%). The majority (46.7%) of Bangladeshi respondents thought it should be included in Bachelor (undergraduate) curricula, compared to 70.2% in France, 81.3% in Portugal, 90% in the UK and 92.3% in Spain (Arias-Coello and Simón-Martín, 2017) and only 19% in India (Naheem, 2017). For continuing education about copyright/IPR, the top preferred form by Bangladeshi LIS professionals was training courses (96%) compared to 92.1% of Indian, 85% of British, 88% of Spanish, 54.7% French and 69% of Bulgarian, Croatian and Turkish respondents (Todorova et al., 2014).

Conclusion and recommendations

This survey provides empirical evidence about copyright/IPR awareness of Bangladeshi LIS professionals. The results of this study suggest that librarians overall are at least somewhat familiar with a wide range of copyright issues and topics. The findings suggest that in Bangladesh there is a need for improvement. Measures should be taken to increase both awareness and the knowledge level of library and information science professionals regarding copyright/IPR issues at both national and international levels. Findings also indicate a recognized need for copyright expertise within an organization, although it is not always the case that a dedicated post exists. Respondents expressed a desire to learn more about copyright/IPR as part of their professional qualifications and also to be kept up-to-date on issues relating to their job.

In Bangladesh, many smaller institutions may not have the resources to employ a dedicated copyright/IPR librarian. If this is the case, it is recommended that the institutions support at least one or (ideally) more individuals to develop their understanding of copyright so they can provide training and advice within the institution and highlight areas of concern. Whoever has responsibility for copyright does not necessarily need a legal qualification but should have familiarity with related issues, particularly digital resource subscription, fair use, open access, scholarly communication, research data sharing and institutional repository. In order to develop good practice, librarians must meet these issues head-on.

The fact is, most faculty members are so busy with research, grant writing, and teaching that few have time to even think about the continually changing landscape of copyright and IPR issues (Duncan et al., 2013). Viewing copyright/IPR as part of information literacy and scholarly communication is significant for LIS professionals and will continue to be in the future: thus copyright/IPR education must go beyond simply memorizing or explaining the rules. It is necessary to increase holistic knowledge and awareness of copyright/IPR issues in the sector placing copyright education into a wider context and highlighting that copyright/IPR issues are inherently linked to access to information and how people ethically use information (Secker et al., 2019). The results of the multinational studies including this study suggest that the current level of copyright knowledge among librarians is far from satisfactory. Therefore, additional efforts to embed copyright education are needed in both formal LIS education and continuous education. Research about copyright/IPR matters in Bangladesh requires more attention from LIS schools, particularly by LIS faculty and practitioners.

Development and actualization of training programs in different forms, including face-to-face and distance learning are needed. Training programs, conferences and workshops can be organized in collaboration with LIS schools and professional associations. Distance education, online blogging, video lessons and game-based learning could be good options since they are easier to attend and, therefore, generally the most preferred by those professionals who are working full time. Finally, the results of this study showed that librarians were not necessarily aware of the many copyright organizations, especially international organizations, which could provide support and training. With better marketing and outreach, these copyright information organizations could eventually become trusted resources for librarians.

Considering the current situation locally and globally, it is a must to give urgent emphasis not only around protecting copyright and other intellectual property rights, but also about building awareness of those laws and policies. Government organizations, industrial associations, educational and research institutions, copyright and IP societies, media and NGOs can play a facilitating role in national capacity building and awareness raising for effective utilization of the copyright/IPR system in Bangladesh. To the face the challenges of the new millennium as other countries have done, Bangladesh needs to strengthen cooperation and exchange information, organize national dialogue and campaigns, enforce copyright and other intellectual property protection and make full use of the existing copyright/IPR system in the development of our national intellectual economy.

The author would like to reiterate that not only are we, as LIS professionals, bound to uphold the ethics of our profession of which copyright is an integral part, but also it is our responsibility to protect the copyright/IPR of others, many of whom allow us, as a library service, to lend their property to others. The survey was not without limitations in that it asked mainly closed questions. There were a number of questions where people chose not to answer or were uncertain, suggesting that copyright terminology could be off-putting or confusing. The size of the sample for this study was limited, but the results are nevertheless very significant. Also, given the low response rate in some sectors, caution should be adopted in making generalizations from the survey results. It is believed that the results may encourage the LIS schools and professional associations in Bangladesh and beyond to rethink copyright-related topics in their curriculum and training programs, for the betterment of the LIS profession and professionals.