The Waiting Game

It can take a while before a desired work reaches the public domain

By Carrie Russell -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2006

We would like to decorate our media center’s second-grade story area with nursery rhymes. The rhymes themselves are in the public domain. But how could I find out if the original illustrations for The Real Mother Goose, published in 1916, are also in it?—Pat McCulloch, librarian, St. Henry School, Nashville, TN

A public-domain chart can help you figure out if the copyright has expired. The best one to consult is Peter Hirtle’s.

For works that were renewed as of 1998 (the year that the Sonny Bono Term Extension Act was enacted), the copyright term extends 95 years beyond the year the work was first published. Using that formula, The Real Mother Goose will enter the public domain on January 1, 2012—the first of the year following the expiration of the copyright term.

To make reserved materials more accessible to our students, we’d like to make PDFs of the texts. We would only copy about 10 percent to 15 percent of each work and make them available on our Web page. Although the readings would be password protected, all of our school’s students could access them. (Our current system won’t let us set up passwords to restrict access to a particular class.) Would we be violating the law?—Carrie Goodall, middle school librarian, Episcopal High School, Baton Rouge, LA

The copyright law doesn’t specifically address reserve readings, so we need to do a fair-use analysis. Since only your school’s students will have access to the copies, they would be used exclusively for nonprofit educational purposes (factor one of the fair-use exemption). Of course, the more limited the access, the more fair the use. So the ideal situation would be if the works were placed in a safer, “less prone for further reproduction” environment. That said, I still think your use is fair. Be sure to place a copyright-warning statement on each PDF to remind students of the copyright law.

We own the public performance rights to an extensive video collection. Most of our collection is now available on inexpensive DVDs, which look and sound much better than the video versions. If we replace our videos with DVDs, is it necessary to additionally purchase public performance rights—or are we already covered?—Carol Simon Levin, Somerset County Library, Bridgewater Branch, Bridgewater, NJ

The public performance rights you purchased for your collection apply only to the videos and not to any other copies you may purchase in the future—regardless of format. Remember, however, that you only need public performance rights when you screen a DVD or video outside of the face-to-face classroom. In other words, it’s lawful to purchase a title without public performance rights and still show it in the classroom for curriculum purposes without prior authorization (Section 110[1] of the copyright law). Sometimes, libraries pay for public performance rights when they’re not necessary.

Our vice principal wants us to purchase equipment so we can convert our videos into DVDs. What guidelines should we post on the machine to address copyright issues?—Deborah Hailey, head librarian, Kauai High School, Lihue, Kauai, HI

The copyright law requires that a specifically worded copyright warning (which is in the U.S. Code of Regulations) be posted near photocopying equipment and on computer software. No specific message is given for other types of copying equipment. I suggest something brief, but understandable to your library users. How about: “WARNING: Making copies in any format of materials protected by copyright may be an infringement of the law (Title 17 U.S. Code). Do not make copies of protected works without the prior authorization of the copyright holder.”