Recently Asked Questions (RAQs)

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.

I am working with an artist on a future display at our library. He is a regionally known professional artist. He is working on an engraving that makes use of a short poem by a deceased, well-known poet. He has learned that the poem is still under copyright and that the poet’s estate is active, but believes that unless it gets renewed, the poem should be in the public domain by the end of the year. If the exhibition is to be before that time, should he apply for permission to use it? If so, is that likely to be expensive?

Is it permissible to create an anthology of 20-30 poems, all by British poets, to be distributed to an entire grade level of students to be used for annotation and instruction? [It’s been suggested] that "since they're all available on the internet" they should be able to printed, collected, bound, and sold to students. A few things that I am unclear on are:
1. Does it make a difference that they are British poets whose work is in the public domain (as I understand, 70 years after death of author)
2. Does it make a difference that the collections are intended to be SOLD to students?
3. If they are, in fact, available through sites such as Project Gutenberg and https://www.whitemarketpodcast.co.uk/blog/2015/10/08/public-domain-poems-for-national-poetry-day/ are they okay to copy, bind, and sell?

Is public domain based on the copyright of the work OR is it based on when the author died OR perhaps it is based on something else? 

Basically, how do you know if something is in the public domain? 

Thank you!

Can we film a story time done at the library using copyrighted books, and then either stream the event live over Facebook for a one-time showing, or film and upload the story time to our library's YouTube channel? The purpose would be so that patrons who cannot come to the library will still be able to participate in story time and gain early literacy benefits.