Many of you will know that Chris and I have been working for some time on research into Copyright Anxiety and Legal Chill. Therefore we are really excited to launch a new collaboration this autumn with the author, coach and trainer, Helen Rimmer. Helen is the author of the Facet book The Kind Librarian and her work on leadership and compassion really struck a chord with our findings that were emerging from the copyright anxiety research.
What’s CARaL all about?
CARaL: Copyright Anxiety, Resilience and Leadership is a new four-part online programme exploring something that traditional copyright training rarely addresses: the emotional, cultural and leadership impact of copyright work.
Copyright is a technical subject, but it is also felt emotionally. The fear of getting something wrong can lead to anxiety, over-checking, unnecessary escalation and what we’re calling “Legal Chill” – where over-caution begins to become a barrier to access, innovation and creativity.
CARaL brings together Jane Secker and Chris Morrison of UK Copyright Literacy with Helen Rimmer of The Kind Brave Leader and Empower: The Library Skills Collective, combining copyright expertise with approaches from kindness, wellbeing, resilience and leadership.
The programme
There are four live 90-minute online sessions, running on Tuesdays from 2.00–3.30pm UK time:
6 October – Decoding the Anxiety
Why does copyright feel so high-stakes? We explore copyright anxiety and Legal Chill, and begin moving from individual fear towards shared understanding.
20 October – Building Resilience & Kindness
Exploring how we manage the emotional weight of copyright, navigate uncertainty and protect our own and our colleagues’ wellbeing.
3 November – Practising Brave Leadership
How to make calm, reflective, risk-aware decisions and create the conditions in which other people feel confident doing the same.
17 November – Creating a Sustainable Culture
Moving beyond reliance on one copyright expert towards shared language, practical approaches to risk and a culture where “I don’t know – let’s find out” can be a safe answer.
The programme is relevant to copyright specialists, accidental copyright leads, librarians and information professionals, managers and leaders, and particularly to organisations that want copyright knowledge and responsibility to be more widely shared rather than sitting with one person.
Access and pricing
CARaL is delivered through Empower: The Library Skills Collective, which creates a particularly good opportunity for organisations considering joining Empower.
CARaL is included in Empower membership at no additional cost.
An Organisational Empower Membership for 12 people is £799 for a full year. That gives all 12 colleagues access not only to the complete CARaL programme and its recordings, but to everything else included within Empower throughout the year – our wider programme of live training, webinars, courses, recordings and professional development resources.
For organisations with several people who would benefit from CARaL, this therefore offers considerably more value than simply purchasing the programme on its own.
Individual Empower membership is £125 for a year, again including CARaL alongside the wider Empower offer.
For people who do not want to join Empower, the CARaL programme can also be purchased separately for £495.
All four sessions will be recorded, so participants do not need to be available for every session live.
If you are interested in the programme, then do check out the CARaL website and consider either joining Empower or signing up for this programme and ensure you have something to look forward to this autumn!
Copyright Literacy 