Copyright Essentials from A to AI: A 2026 NISO Training Series

Scope

This training series is designed for anyone interested in where copyright law intersects with library and academic spaces and the tensions that shape those interactions. Each session pairs conceptual understanding with discussions of how power and market dynamics shape outcomes in practice.

The series opens with the foundations of the US copyright system and the critical framework that runs throughout the course — asking, for each topic, what is being protected, who benefits, who is excluded, and what assumptions the system makes. From there, sessions move through fair use and the public domain, statutory exceptions for libraries, and a structured mid-point session that uses cases from music, sports, and popular culture as a laboratory for applying that framework in small group discussion. With participants having put the analytical framework into practice, the second half of the series turns to the more complex institutional terrain of licensing and market power, open movements and author rights, and the unresolved questions surrounding copyright and AI.

The sessions will hold space for productive tension, collaborative discussion, and reflection on how we might navigate contradictory roles with integrity. The series concludes with a capstone session where participants will be able to work on designing or refining programs and practices for their own organizations which involve copyright concerns.

Training Facilitator

Willa Liburd Tavernier, Legal Knowledge Management Consultant and Scholarly Communication Professional, Indiana University Bloomington

As Research Impact & Open Scholarship Librarian, Willa assists faculty and graduate students in managing their research profiles and tracking and demonstrating the impact of their scholarly work.

Her current research looks at equitable scholarly communication, specifically governance and sustainability, from the perspectives of both systems and labor. Willa is a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries Residency Interest Group (RIG), serving on its assessment team and subgroup on diversity residencies. She's also a board member of the Library Publishing Coalition and Secretary of NASIG (formerly the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc.). Previously, she has served on the NASIG Digital Preservation Committee and the Library Publishing Coalition's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force.

Willa Liburd earned her MLIS from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa together with a graduate certificate in college teaching. She holds a Master of Laws from American University Washington College of Law, a Legal Education Certificate from Norman Manley Law School, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. Before joining IU, Willa worked as a student specialist at the University of Iowa conducting bibliographic analysis of open access funded research and assisting with the administration of the institutional repository.

Training Facilitator

Karen Stoll Farrell, Director, Scholarly Communication and Open Publishing Associate, Indiana University Bloomington

Karen Stoll Farrell's work is to support the IU community within the scholarly communication and publishing cycle. She guides the work of the department which includes journal and book publishing, Open Educational Resources, management of the institutional repository, research impact, and support for open access initiatives and collections. She also currently serves as the Director of the Dhar India Studies Program in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Stoll Farrell holds an M.A. (A.B.D.) in South Asian Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.L.I.S. from Wayne State University, and a B.A. in Anthropology with minors in Religion and Women's Studies from Kalamazoo College. She began her work in libraries as the South and Southeast Asian Studies Librarian at IU Libraries in 2014. In 2016, she additionally became the head of the Area Studies Department in the Libraries. After a one-year term as interim head of the Scholars' Commons, Stoll Farrell took on the role of interim head of the Scholarly Communication Department in 2020, eventually becoming Director of Scholarly Communication and Open Publishing.

Stoll Farrell's research is primarily in the realm of disability and accessibility, scholarly publishing, and management. Her two most recent publications are:

• Stoll Farrell, K. (2025) Emergent Strategies to Build Transformative Library Teams. Library Leadership and Management, 39(1). https://doi.org/10.5860/llm.v39i1.7696
• Cohen, R., Cooke, P., Holt, M., Lounsberry, M., Roga, E., Squires, J., Stoll Farrell, K. (2025) Autistic librarians in the academic library hiring process. College & Research Libraries, 86(5). https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/26933/34830

She has a co-edited volume coming in 2026: Cohen, R. & Stoll Farrell, K. (Eds.). (2026). Autistic Academic Librarians: A Guide for Success. Association of College and Research Libraries. [forthcoming]

Locally, Stoll Farrell was elected to serve as president of the Bloomington Library Faculty Council in 2019 and 2024. She currently serves as an elected member of BLFC. Nationally, she recently served as the project manager of the C4DISC Toolkit for Disability Equity project.

Stoll Farrell completed Copyright X Certification from Harvard Law School, and is a certified Scrum Product Owner. She has completed a number of management courses including ACRL's Libraries Management Skills Institute I and II and DeEtta Jones' Inclusive Manager's Toolkit.

Outside of IU, Stoll Farrell serves as a co-leader for a local Girl Scout troop and occasionally writes book reviews ("Review: Harmattan Season"; "Review: The Incandescent").

Course Duration and Dates

The series consists of eight (8) weekly segments, each lasting 90 minutes. Specific dates are:

• October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
• November 5, 12, 19 (Note: Daylight savings will affect sessions after November 1)

Each session will be recorded and links to that archived recording will be disseminated to course registrants within 2 business days of the close of the specific session.