Tag Archives: Copyright

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Best Digital Tools 2021: Britannica ImageQuest

AASL released its list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning 2021! This year’s list took into special consideration how well these tools work for remote/distance students. The resources enhance learning and encourage the following qualities:

  • Innovation/Creativity
  • Active Participation
  • Collaboration
  • User-Friendly
  • Encourages Exploration
  • Information/Reference

We share these resources every year and you can explore our archive of past recommendations here.

This database of curated images does cost money but is a smart choice for students (and even public libraries) who need safe, ad-free, and copyright-cleared images,

“Britannica ImageQuest brings lessons, assignments, and projects to life with the best and broadest oering of curriculum-relevant imagery and digital art materials (symbols, educational illustrations, infographics, flags, and conceptual illustrations), all rights-cleared for educational, non-commercial use. Users have access to over 3.25 million images from more than 60 leading collections.”

Grades: K-12

This article from Ed Tech Impact includes reviews, case studies, and plenty of details about using the ImageQuest program. And this review from School Library Journal offers examples of how the program can be useful to teachers and explains the easiest ways to use the program.

Watch this two minute video to see how the program works!

Check this out:, Training

Training Tip: It’s Public Domain Day! Yay!!

January 1 is always Public Domain Day – a wonderful holiday for library people across the country!!

What is Public Domain Day? So happy you asked!

In the United States, our copyright laws are…restrictive. (Terrible. Run by Disney and other big corporations. These are other potential descriptors – but they are more reflective of my personal opinions. So I’m just going to say “restrictive” for our purposes here.)

They keep material out of the public domain for extended amounts of time. You can find out if any published materials are in the public domain, or whether they are protected by copyright, right here on this handy Digital Copyright Slider. A quick browse over this will show you whether the material you are looking at is available to use, or when it will enter the public domain. (It’s so handy!)

And this is a banner year for advocates of using copyrighted material! In 1998, we were supposed to get material from 1923 to use, after their 75-year copyright expired. Sadly, Congress decided that bowing to the corporate interests of companies such as Disney (gotta be worried about The Mouse!) was more important than sharing material freely with everyone. And they extended the protection on material from 1923 to 1977 for an additional 20 years.

But!! Here we are!! A mere NINETY-FIVE YEARS LATER!!  And for the first time in twenty years, we have some good stuff entering into the public domain!!

What does this mean to you?? Well, first off: all the books in this new classification can be shared at no cost, and with no restrictions, with your patrons. Check out Project Gutenberg for some great, FREE, access to all kinds of ebooks available in the public domain. Link to this on your website! Add them to your catalog! Download them and hand them out on street corners! It’s all perfectly legal!!!!

[*tossing handfuls of confetti around the office to celebrate*]

Movies can be shown to your patrons – anytime, as often as you want, and without a single permission slip or fee paid to anyone!!

Posters can be downloaded, printed, and put up all over the library, given away as prizes, or anything else that sounds fun to you!

And, okay, yes. This stuff is 95 years old. Star Wars will not enter the public domain until long after all of us are dead, so forget having access to that kind of stuff.

“Unfortunately, the fact that works from 1923 are legally available does not mean they are actually available. Many of these works are lost entirely or literally disintegrating (as with old films and recordings), evidence of what long copyright terms do to the conservation of cultural artifacts. For the works that have survived, however, their long-awaited entry into the public domain is still something to celebrate.”

But!!

There are a lot of good things here that you can share freely with your patrons now. You have heard of a lot of these, and there will be no sadness at all in sharing them with the public.

Here are a few things, from the Duke University Center for the Study of the Public Domain. (This is THE spot to go for copyright questions and education!)

Books:

 

Films:

Music:

  • Yes! We Have No Bananas, w.&m. Frank Silver & Irving Cohn
  • Charleston, w.&m. Cecil Mack & James P. Johnson
  • London Calling! (musical), by Noel Coward
  • Who’s Sorry Now, w. Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, m. Ted Snyder
  • Songs by “Jelly Roll” Morton including Grandpa’s Spells, The Pearls, and Wolverine Blues (w. Benjamin F. Spikes & John C. Spikes; m. Ferd “Jelly Roll” Morton)
  • Works by Bela Bartok including the Violin Sonata No. 1 and the Violin Sonata No. 2
  • Tin Roof Blues, m. Leon Roppolo, Paul Mares, George Brunies, Mel Stitzel, & Benny Pollack

Still from the Duke site:

What Could Have Been

“Works from 1923 are finally entering the public domain, after a 95-year copyright term. However, under the laws that were in effect until 1978, thousands of works from 1962 would be entering the public domain this year. They range from the books A Wrinkle in Time and The Guns of August, to the film Lawrence of Arabia and the song Blowin’ in the Wind, and much more. Have a look at some of the others. In fact, since copyright used to come in renewable terms of 28 years, and 85% of authors did not renew, 85% of the works from 1990 might be entering the public domain! Imagine what the great libraries of the world—or just internet hobbyists—could do: digitizing those holdings, making them available for education and research, for pleasure and for creative reuse.”

It’s a Wonderful Life, you guys!!!!

“It’s a Wonderful Public Domain. . . . What happens when works enter the public domain? Sometimes, wonderful things. The 1947 film It’s A Wonderful Life entered the public domain in 1975 because its copyright was not properly renewed after the first 28-year term. The film had been a flop on release, but thanks to its public domain status, it became a holiday classic. Why? Because TV networks were free to show it over and over again during the holidays, making the film immensely popular. But then copyright law reentered the picture. . . . In 1993, the film’s original copyright holder, capitalizing on a recent Supreme Court case, reasserted copyright based on its ownership of the film’s musical score and the short story on which the film was based (the film itself is still in the public domain). Ironically, a film that only became a success because of its public domain status was pulled back into copyright.”

And you know what?? I love that Robert Frost poem, darn it. I’m going to do what was a big violation of federal law, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, to do just two days ago.

I’m typing it all in here below.

Enjoy!

And take a moment to celebrate Public Domain Day in your own library!! Take time to educate your community members about copyright laws, to prevent them from getting into trouble. (And if we all get good and mad about it – maybe we can make some changes to the law, Disney’s well-paid fleets of lawyers and lobbyists be darned!)

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

 

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

 

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Training

Training Tips: Copyright Issues

If you work in a library, you may be the Copyright expert for your organization.

And if that makes you suddenly stop breathing in panic – I get you. It’s potentially a pretty scary place to be. But we are going to give you some tips and ideas to help you manage this tasks!

We have a bunch of information on our Copyright page, so browse through that.

Here are some basics to get you started.

  •  http://www.copyright.gov/ This is where it all comes from – the home of copyright information for the US! We will be looking at individual sections of this site during class, but you may want to keep this bookmarked for your own purposes

Check out this (kinda long-feeling) video on Copyright law, as told by clips of less than ten seconds from Disney films! As an absolutely huge supporter of crushing people and firmly clutching their products to themselves, the Disney corporation has a not-lovely reputation in the legalities of Copyright. (If you watch a couple of minutes, you’ve got the idea; watch the whole thing for some good info!)

 

How can you get around Copyright law? There are four general pieces to Fair Use by someone who does not own the material. How will you know if you have guessed incorrectly on use? You will be the recipient of a massive copyright lawsuit! (It won’t be fun. Try to avoid this.) Here are the four factors that may be exemptions:

  • First Factor: Purpose and Character
  • Second Factor: Nature of Work
  • Third Factor: Amount
  • Fourth Factor: Market Effect

The information about all of these is detailed on this page from the library at Purdue University.

The Basics You Need to Know:


#1 Copyright is simple at the core: You create stuff, so you own it.

Well, if things were that simple we could wrap up our article here, and spend the rest of the afternoon sipping refreshing beverages at the beach! Of course things get complicated – and in that area of complication we will find enough drama, intrigue, and hostility to fill not only a summer class but thousands of books, articles, and websites. This is where things get exciting!

#2 Copyright is governed by federal law.

This is not an area where people can “try really hard” and be right. Being nice individuals, or not knowing they were breaking the law, does not save people accused of copyright violations. While there are not actual Copyright Police who will throw people in to Copyright Jail, there are substantial financial penalties involved for breaking the law.

Library people generally live in that gray zone between absolute right of the creators/owners of information, and freely sharing information with other people. It’s not an easy place to be, but we will look at a few ways you will be able to get your bearings, figure out what is going on, and help your users to stay (generally) on the right side of the law!

We will explore both the rigidity of law, and the fuzziness of exceptions to that law! Yes: it is always going to be a tightrope performance for you. Mistakes cost money, time, and possibly your job – so let’s practice here, with nets to support us, before you try this at work!

#3 Critical Thinking skills are important!

Some of the material you will find advocate breaking federal laws, or bending things in new ways, or hiding our own initiative and following rules that may run contrary to the intent of creators and users of content. You need to think for yourself: what is important in this discussion? What attributes of copyright are vital? Where does copyright go off the rails in protecting the economic interests of a few people? What kinds of stands, if any, do you want to make as an library person?? There are not going to be “right” answers to these questions – but there are answers that will be right, and wrong, for you. THINK! Be informed! Make good decisions for yourself!

Training

Training Tips: Copyright Basics

 

If you are in a library, you are probably the point person for answering copyright questions, or for enforcing copyright rules for your organization.

But: how confident do you feel in your knowledge of federal copyright law?? If you are like a lot of library people, you would probably feel better if you had more basic experience.

Libraries and archives are often the locations in an organization where copyright laws meet the demands of your community members. We need to be ready to explain why it is not appropriate (legal) to just scan the latest expensive textbook and put it online for an entire class. We need to provide information on why we can not just photocopy articles from a popular journal every single week to distribute. We need to train our community members in using images online, in sharing information from behind paywalls, and so many more things to help them follow copyright law in their own work.

This summer, CMLE is offering a Copyright Class in our Summer Library  Boot Camp series, to be sure everyone knows what they need to tell their patrons. In this class we will walk through the basics of copyright law, and some ideas about training your community members in understanding and following copyright laws. (Pointing out some of the massive potential financial penalties can be helpful! This is federal law after all, not just “oh, if you get around to it” kind of stuff!)

Check out some of this information, and see if it can answer your questions. If you get stuck, you can always contact us at CMLE Headquarters and we can help you answer questions.

For some quick basics, check out our “Linking Our Libraries” podcast episode on copyright!

 

Communication

Register your DMCA agent by December 31, 2017

Copyright
This is important information, provided by the American Library Association to help protect you against copyright infringers! Many CMLE members will need to do this, by Dec 31! Check in with us at CMLE if you have questions.

“TheDigital Millennial Copyright Act instituted the “notice and takedown” rule to protect online service providers — in our case, libraries, universities and schools — who provide public access computers from infringement by third parties if online service providers supply the name and contact information of a designated agent to receive claims of copyright infringement. For more details on this law and regulation see: copyright.gov/dmca-directory

The U.S. Copyright Office asks that online service providers register or re-register an agent to create an up-to-date online directory of agents that rights holders can contact. Libraries and educational institutions who provide open access computers and/or wifi should designate a person who will receive these notices. This person may be the head of the school district, director of the library, personnel from the IT department, legal counsel or other designated staff.

The registration process is straightforward and must be done to benefit from the safe harbor established in Section 512 of the copyright law.

Complete a registration form at dmca.copyright.gov/osp/login.html and provide contact information. Maintain the currency and accuracy of the information, updating it as necessary. Pay a $6 dollar fee.

Registrations must be submitted by December 31, 2017. A new registration process will open every three years.

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