| San Jose State University | LIBR 220-01 Libraries and the Law |
| School of Library & Information Science | Mary Minow |
| Legal Questions | Bibliography |
|---|---|
| In the event that a department library staff of a major university(let us say, the Education/Psychology Library at U.C. Berkeley) is approached by a professor with the donation of a video recorded copy (VCR, home recorded) of a PBS documentary to the library (with the intent of having it in the collection for faculty reserve), how does the library staff deal with this offer? With respect to copyright law, must the professional staff decline the offer? Again with respect to copyright law, must the professional staff purchase from PBS the video for the purpose of classroom use and classroom use only? | Karen Paige There are two bibliographies for this question |
Back to List of Legal Questions To: Mary Minow From: Karen Paige Re: Patron Entry
Question: In the event that a department library staff of a major university(let us say, the Education/Psychology Library at U.C. Berkeley) is approached by a professor with the donation of a video recorded copy (VCR, home recorded) of a PBS documentary to the library (with the intent of having it in the collection for faculty reserve), how does the library staff deal with this offer? With respect to copyright law, must the professional staff decline the offer? Again with respect to copyright law, must the professional staff purchase from PBS the video for the purpose of classroom use and classroom use only?
Encyclopedic Resources:
By first looking in West's Encyclopedia of American Law (vol. 3 is Civil Rights to Cypress p.244), one can read and get an overall perspective of the Copyright Law, and its evolvement into what it is today. There is a good description of Fair Use (17 U.S.C.A. : 107)and a four point test! The 1998 general Index of Corpus Juris Secundum leads one to sections that are listed in CJS that talks about legislation on Copyright and Intellectual property (::54, 80, & 86). Section 86 in that it is not an infringement of the Copyright Law if non-profit institutions transfer a particular copy for the purpose of teaching , criticism, comment, reporting, scholarship, and research. Section 54 is related to Audiovisual works. It states that a private television viewer's "time-shifting" of copyrighted television program by way of a videotape recording may constitute Fair Use! Some cases are listed to read for getting a precedent:
Statutory Resources:
| Back to List of Legal Questions Last Updated: October 15, 1998 |