Personal works are owned by the creator of the work.
   
Personal works are works "created by an employee … outside his or her scope of employment and without the use of college or university resources other than resources that are available to the public or resources for which the creator has paid the requisite fee to utilize."

"Intellectual property rights in personal works belong to the creator of the work." (Board Policy 3.26, Part 4, Subpart A.4)

The key here for professional staff employed by MnSCU or its institutions, is that the works must unquestionably be created outside the scope of employment if they are to be considered "personal works." For example, the dean of students who writes a draft disciplinary policy for the parochial school on whose volunteer board she sits; the information technology staff member who creates a web page for her writers group; and the head of the library circulation staff who prepares a presentation on pond life for a children's workshop at the local nature center have all created personal works. All of the created works take advantage of the talents of the creators, and possibly even the creators' experience as professional employees to some degree, but they are still personal works created outside the scope of employment.