"So When Is It Okay..?"

"...to show a movie excerpt?"

"...to make a copy of a magazine article?"

"...to copy something in a research paper?"

"...to use an image/video/article/etc. I found on the Internet?"

One of the roles media coordinators find themselves in is that of "copyright expert" (or copyright police, copyright witch, or just plain "mean person who won't let me copy/show/use stuff"). Why, you might ask? Well, in my county at least, it's a requirement that media coordinators must train staff members every year on compliance with copyright and fair use. Also, in order to help students as digital learners, we work with them on learning how to follow fair use guidelines for their research and writing.

In the first graduate class I took for my Master's degree in Library Science, in fact, copyright took a large part of our class projects and discussions. I don't enjoy telling a teacher that uploading a scanned copy of the entire last three copies of a novel or putting the latest issue of People magazine on his or her website violates copyright. Nor do I enjoy explaining why putting in full-length feature films because it's Friday and there's a sub and the unit test was yesterday is a violation either.

I am not the copyright police.

I don't actually search out violations on websites, and I certainly never stalk the halls looking in classroom doors to see if someone has posted cartoons on bulletin boards. The most questions I get are about movies, and I can't always give teachers the answers they want to hear. But since violating copyright is a fire-able offense here, I will always be honest. That's why I tell my teachers to ask themselves: is it worth losing your job for?

Here are the educational exception rules about showing a movie in the classroom:

First, our county has purchased a license with Discovery Education. If you log in to that site, you can show what's on it. Just preview it first...you don't want any surprises like the guy in the skin-tight skeleton suit that left NOTHING to the imagination one teacher showed her students at one school! Or the Jeff Corwin show where he let fly a few 4-letter words that shocked the first-graders!

Second, our county policy specifically says no Disney Entertainment movies. Period. And if it's policy, you can be fired for violating it. Is showing Frozen worth packing your stuff in a box and turning in your badge? It's not worth it to me!

Third, if the school owns it, you don't have to fill out paperwork to show it, but you still must meet the educational guidelines. If the school doesn't own it, remember to fill out the request to show digital media and have an administrator sign it. This protects YOU if there is a concern over the film being shown.

Fourth, TO MEET FAIR USE, the following must all be met:

1. You have to meet the general education guidelines about ratings that you can see on my website;

2. The movie must be part of your core curriculum. (So a block-buster movie probably won't meet this rule!)

3.  It must be part of your face-to-face teaching by a licensed teacher (NOT BY A SUB!) in a regular teaching environment (NOT ON A BUS!).

4. It cannot be for entertainment, reward, or to kill time until starting the next unit or while you catch up on grading. (THAT INCLUDES ONCE AN EXAM HAS ENDED!)

And please, please remember that I did not write the laws.

Thank you.