Recently Asked Questions (RAQs)

I wanted to host a fanfiction writing contest for my teen department, as we have a lot of teens who enjoy writing fanfiction about their favorite characters and fandom. However, I know fanfiction is always a little tricky.

The idea was to set rules and guidelines, such as:

“Respect for Source Material: If using established characters or settings, submissions should honor the original creator’s vision, themes, and tone.

Originality: Plagiarism will result in disqualification. All work must be the author’s own, with clear inspiration rather than direct copying from the source material.”

The prize would be a gift card that was sponsored, not purchased. We wanted to publish these works on a small, local scale—hosted on our blog or website. However, I am starting to think that using public-domain characters and literary works may be the safest option, especially considering they are minors. A secondary question about publishing in general: if they are minors, is parental consent required?

The elementary is planning a virtual Halloween parade this year. The students will parade through the building in costume. As they pass through the entrance hallway, there will be a video camera live-streaming the parade via zoom (to families watching from home). The parade committee would like to play a purchased CD of spooky music in the background of the video.

Does this violate the music copyright?

For the past two years, our library hosted a 24-hour read-aloud; where people camped on the front lawn and took turns reading 6-7 books. Due to COVID, we can't hold this event in person this year. Our thought it that we could do it virtually - and instead of reading an entire book, we would ask readers to read the first chapter from one of their favorite books. They would film themselves reading (or we would film them) and then we would post the clip on our YouTube channel. One clip a day would be posted - for a total of 24 clips.

Our questions center around copyright infringement and fair use. Could we host such an event? Would this qualify under educational fair use guidelines?
Could we leave the videos up indefinitely -- or would it be better to have a specific time period and then they disappear?

Any guidance - even if it's a "don't do it!" would be helpful!

Thank you!

I am in the stages of planning a library one-time-only event aimed at getting college students interested in writing their own works of fiction. There are no class credits involved. My premise is “Where do ideas come from?”

Some now-published authors first writing attempts were in writing fan fiction (fanfic). I may suggest that as a possibility while advising the students that they cannot legally make any money from such works. I was also planning on mentioning pastiche works, where they could have similar characters, situations, etc. Now I wonder if that is an improvement?

I recall a Sherlock Holmes inspired character called Solar Pons. The Solar Pons stories basically consisted of all the Holmes characters with different names, though mentioning Sherlock in the stories. These works were published by August Derleth and later by Basil Copper. [see the attached newspaper article from the 2015 issue of the independent]

I hoped to suggest either of these options as a way to spark some interest, but wonder I’d be opening a can of worms that is best kept shut.

A community member is interested in gathering at the library for a non-staged, dramatic reading of a play published in the UK in 2016. The idea is offered as a potential library program, though it could also be viewed as a separate community meeting without library sponsorship. It is my rough understanding that, regardless of whether an audience is brought out for the performance or not, regardless of who is 'sponsoring' it, this would be in violation of the creator's (who is still alive) copyright claim to the work. Further, that the library would most likely be the liable party.

Am I right?