[LM_NET] HIT: Copyright Violation--Don't Ask, Don't Tell

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Based upon the number of responses (well over 100 in my mailbox, thank
you!), the use of videos / movies as a form of entertainment is a
problem in most every school district at this time of the year (as
well as during the Christmas / winter holidays, after state-wide
testing, and before any major holiday event when the teachers and
students have "shut-down").

Many asked that I do not share their names with the list, as they
would like to keep their jobs.  Others said that they "do not see
anything wrong" with showing movies to students for entertainment.
Some reported having very strict guidelines (some teachers had been
fired for violating the district's copyright guidelines) and others
reported that even after they reported the incidents to their
principals or their district librarians, they were told that they
would take care of it....but didn't.

Some librarians said that their principals "caved-in" to the pressures
of the teachers who wanted to use the videos and some said that they
refused to help teachers in their schools who attempted to show videos
(by connecting the VCR / DVD to the television, assisting with the
set-up, or by correcting any problems).

A few said that we, as librarians, are "not the copyright police" and
that this is not our job.  Many said that they were told by their
administrators to "just do it" and so they complied, regardless of the
implications from these actions.

Based upon the comments, I have to conclude that we are NOT making
much headway in the area of instruction regarding "intellectual
property rights" and the "ethical use of information resources" in our
schools or among our administrators and teachers.  While our jobs are
not to be copyright police, it IS our job to teach the ethical use of
information.

Some have mentioned that they'd rather pay their mortgage, keep their
jobs and play the video than stand-up to the people and the problems
behind the unethical (and unlawful) actions; however, it is this type
of continual apathy and disregard of academic integrity and
professional ethics that continues to erode our foundation in
education.

While the majority of us should continue to remind our teachers and
administrators that the use of videos for entertainment purposes IS a
violation of copyright law, we should also consider the option of
submitting a purchase order to our administrators for the purchase of
a public performance license so that the school is, at least, IN
compliance if they choose to use videos as entertainment in the
classroom during these days of non-instruction.


(As a personal note:  To make the statement for the ethical use of
information even stronger, I submit that for EVERY incident that
occurs within the school while a public performance license is NOT
available, a copy of the original purchase order request be
re-submitted to the administration as a reminder, along with a
notation of the latest video shown in the classrooms, the date the
video was shown, and a reminder of the guidelines governing "fair use"
of videos in the classroom. --- Make sure that the original purchase
order request you submitted is duplicated several times so that you
have copies to share over and over again with your administrators.
Even while some may say that this may be too assertive, it does
provide you with a "paper trail" showing your efforts to effectively
engage in the correct behaviors for educating not only your
administration and teachers, but also model the correct behavior to
students and their parents...who are always watching!)

Thanks for your responses....and start looking for a public
performance license to share with your administrators.  Here's one to
consider:

http://www.movlic.com/index.html



~Shonda


-- 
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
Library Media / Technology Specialist
Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
http://shonda.edublogs.org/
sbrisco@gmail.com

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

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