Library and Information Sciences: Perspectives of Students on Fair use Literacy under Section 34 of the Thai Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994) in Library and Information Science Profession Subject at Department of Library and Information Science, Suansunandh

A growing number of colleges, universities, libraries, and other organizations may be facing accusations of copyright infringements. Librarians have analyzed and applied fair use in library services, but rarely have they interpreted fair use for educational or library activities. Many librarians ask and concern about the possible ambiguity of fair use even before Thai parliament enacted the Thai Copyright Act in 2537 B.E. The regulated fair use stipulated in Section 34 prescribes that the standard of duplicating copyright work by librarians and/or informationists is a legitimate act. This performance is treated as the copyright exemption. But a number of Library and Information Science (LIS) students do not understand how to apply fair use and many LIS lecturers do not know how to teach the application of fair use. The main purpose of this research is to fill this gap by surveying a sample of LIS students for their perspectives on the importance and relevance of fair use literacy competencies for LIS students. The results of this study provided by librarians will help LIS lecturers and students to be able to understand and apply fair use to real life situations. The hope is that other institutions will be able to use this study as a guideline to develop and determine their applications of fair use in accordance with their own cultures and practices.