About Copyright@Waterloo

The Copyright Advisory Committee (CAC) serves as the primary forum for collaborative decision-making regarding copyright¹ and its applications² on campus. The committee will work to keep campus administration, faculty, staff, and students informed about the current and ongoing status of copyright and licensing related issues, projects, and developments. The CAC supports campus administration, faculty, staff, and students in their use of copyright protected works, through either Copyright Act³ exceptions or license permissions.

Approach

In the spirit of honouring the decentralized nature of copyright compliance work, and balancing the centralized risk management framework, the CAC will consist of two groups, the Steering Committee and the Working Group. The Steering Committee reports to the Vice President Academic & Provost.

The Steering Committee oversees the core Working Group, and will strike new limited term working groups as required.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee will be made up of individuals with responsibility for advising on/directing policy, budget, and strategic initiatives. This group will be responsible for advising campus administrators on copyright issues, and for directing, supervising, and sponsoring the Working Group.

Accountability

Reporting to the Vice-President, Academic & Provost from time to time as requested by the Vice-President, Academic & Provost, the Steering Committee:

• develops, documents and oversees a risk management plan for copyright, consistent with Policy 11, University Risk Management, the University Risk Management Reporting Guideline, the Statement of Institutional Risk Appetite, and the Institutional Risk Mitigation Strategy, including
  • a bi-annual review of copyright infrastructure, reporting as necessary;
• develops the University-wide communication plan for copyright;
• directs, supervises and sponsors the Working Group, collaborating with and supporting the Working Group in the execution of its mandate;
• assists the Working Group, and any other working group that may be established by the Steering Committee, in the development of work plans for such working groups;
• regularly reports on national consortia and working group activities;
• provides advice and guidance on University policies as they relate to copyright issues;
• develops recommendations on the use of copyright exceptions as they apply to the University; and,
• provides a comprehensive report to the Vice-President, Academic & Provost, on not less than a semi-annual basis, detailing the activities of the Steering Committee and any working group that may be established under its direction.

Meetings

Meetings are to be called at least once per term. The Steering Committee may also be convened on an ad hoc basis to consider specific issues. While all members of the Steering Committee will be invited to and provided with the materials for all meetings (both regular and ad hoc) of the Steering Committee, there may be occasions where such meetings are sufficiently limited in their topic that only a relevant subset of the Steering Committee will be expected to attend.

Reporting

Minutes will be taken; these will be communicated to Steering Committee and Working Group members following each meeting via the committee website.

Steering Committee Membership

• Co-Chair: University Librarian, or delegate
• Co-Chair: General Counsel, Legal & Immigration Services
• Affiliated and Federate Institutions of Waterloo Academic Dean Representative
• Chief Information Officer
• Copyright & Licensing Librarian
• Director of Print and Retail Solutions
• Course Materials Specialist, Print and Retail Solutions
• Director of Instructional Technology and Media Services, Information Systems & Technology
• Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo President or designate
• Director of Centre for Extended Learning, or delegate
• Senior Educational Developer, Faculty Programs, Centre for Teaching Excellence
• University of Waterloo Staff Association President or designate
• Technology Transfer Manager, Waterloo Commercialization Office, Office of Research
• Legal Counsel, Legal and Immigration Services

Consultative Parties

Associate Vice-President, Academic

Associate Vice-President, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs

Graduate Student Association President or delegate

Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association President or delegate

Working Group

The Working Group will be made up of individuals whose day-to-day work directly involves copyright issues. The members will be responsible for coordinating efforts around campus-wide projects, including education, and monitoring and reporting issues to the Steering Committee.

Accountability

Reporting to the Steering Committee from time to time as requested by the Steering Committee, the Working Group:

• develops and implements campus program for education and outreach;
• provides periodic reports to the Steering Committee on not less than once each term, providing summaries of its work and issues that have emerged during execution of its mandate;
• updates and maintains campus copyright information sources, including the Copyright Guidelines website;
• delivers expert advice and guidance on copyright issues, and associated training recommendations;
• actively monitors and assesses issues associated with the University approach to the use of copyright exceptions;
• establishes and monitors the operational communication plan, including the escalation path, as approved by the Steering Committee;
• documents institutional knowledge;
• onboards new members of the Working Group; and,
• develops a yearly and multi-year work plan.

Meetings

To be determined, by the scope and nature of the work plan.  

Reporting

Minutes will be taken; these will be communicated to Steering Committee and Working Group members following each meeting via the committee website.

Working Group Membership

• Chair: Copyright & Licensing Librarian, Library
• AFIW Librarian Representative
• Copyright Specialist, Centre for Extended Learning
• Custom Publishing Co-ordinator, Print and Retail Solutions
• Library Associate, Course Reserves, Library
• Legal Counsel, Legal and Immigration Services
• Resource Person: Training & Licensing Coordinator, Information Systems & Technology

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