Recently Asked Questions

I've had an interesting question posed to me by two Social Studies teachers and... I have a feeling this may be a more pervasive issue.

A teacher checked out a :50 video (DVD) from the school library he wants to show to his class. Typically, while the students are watching the video, they will answer/respond to a worksheet the teacher has provided to them. How does the teacher show this video to his Remote-Only students at home?

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?

Help!  We just got a very scary "cease and desist" notice from a company claiming to own the copyrights to some videos that were posted on our web site and used internally.  They want $2,000 to "settle" a copyright claim, and they say we have 10 days to reply or they will sue!  This notice is sitting in my in-box like a ticking time bomb, please let me know what we should do. [1]

[1] In the interest of transparency, please know that this question is an amalgam of several we've received, and not attributable to any one institution.

Our archive was part of a regional project to initiate, scan, and make available church records from predominantly African American churches within a city. As part of this project, student/graduate assistants went to the particular churches, scanned the historical records as digital files, and provided those files to [our archive] for public access.

My question is in regards to photographs taken of minors and the restrictions for retention and online display. I would not have selected those particular items for retention, but because I was not on-site during the scanning, I have the files as part of the larger record (church programs, organizational records, committees, etc.). We have signed permissions from the church administration for online access and display of their records. In some cases the photographs are from over 20-40 years ago, in some cases they're much more recent. They're taken at private church events, Sunday school classes/activities, and public events--some as part of photo albums and some as individual files.

I'm struggling with how to treat these photographs and any associated records when I know they display minors. Any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Is it permissible to make digital copies of choral music that is legally owned by the institution to students in choral and instrumental ensembles? Some students may be studying remotely and mailing physical copies may result in lost or non-returned copies.