The Copyright Librarian: A Study of Advertising Trends for the Period 2006–2013

Academic libraries are creating copyright positions to respond to the evolving and litigious copyright environment associated with digital content and services. This paper reports on a study of advertisement trends for copyright positions available in academic libraries. A content analysis of job advertisement data was carried out on data generated from JobLIST, an electronic listserv of the American Library Association (ALA) where library positions from the United States and Canada are posted. Job data were generated by searching the JobLIST database using the following search terms: copyright, intellectual property, scholarly communication, repository, electronic resources, licensing, and digital. Data were for the period August 2006 through April 2013. The search generated 2799 job advertisements (ads) of which 264 jobs mention ‘copyright’ in the title or text of the job advertisement (job ads). Of the 264, none required a Juris Doctor (JD) although 5 preferred a JD. The MLS/MLIS was always mentioned first. Of the 264 jobs, 16 were copyright officer/manager type positions. Between 2006 and 2011, there was a slight but steady growth in the positions mentioning copyright from 9% (2006) to 13% (2011). In the first quarter of 2013, copyright positions already represented 8% of the positions retrieved from JobLIST. The majority of the positions were a combination of copyright and related areas like intellectual property, scholarly communication, electronic resources, licensing and digital management. It is evident from the data that the copyright librarian or competence in copyright is a prerequisite for current and future needs of academic libraries and academic institutions in general.