This post is by Michael Apfeldorf of the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress has launched a new self-paced professional development module designed to provide educators with an overview of how copyright relates to their use of primary sources.
By understanding a work’s original context, intent, message, and audience, creators can use cultural referents to frame new ideas. Public-domain classics achieve a continually evolving immortality as they are re-imagined by new generations of creative minds. Public domain works, through creative adaptation, can be used to create a commentary on the original work, engage contemporary issues, create opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue, and promote cultural change.
My job is to educate and provide outreach to the public about the U.S. Copyright Office and copyright-related topics. So, on any given day, I answer questions about how creative people can register their copyrights, send out a tweet about fun facts, and talk to people interested in learning about how to be responsible users of copyrighted works.