Legal Poems

You are not wrong in your thinking.  You are protecting your institution.   Further, by educating your faculty, you are helping them educate students.

That said, you are up against a tough issue.  It is one of the strongest copyright myths out there: the strident belief that if a copy is for educational and/or a not-for-profit use, it can’t be an infringement. [1]

Of course, all myths come from somewhere, and the origin of this one is easy to pinpoint: Fair Use—an exemption from infringement—considers educational and commercial factors. 

But librarians and other information professionals know that Fair Use involves additional factors, and requires case-by-case analysis.   To Illustrate this (and helping faculty), many larger higher education institutions maintain excellent, easy-to-use guides. 

Here are some of the better ones I couldn’t presume to improve upon:

NYU

Columbia

Stanford

Harvard

Given the wealth of excellent material out there already, I have nothing new to add, unless you would find posting this short, punchy bit of doggerel helpful:

When it comes to coursepacks, here’s the rule:

Copyright applies in school.

Sure, not-for-profit education

Can help a “Fair Use” designation,

But articles, books, and chapters used

Without a license can get us sued.

Ten percent is no sure guide…

Fair Use factors slip and slide!

So if the work’s not satirized,

Nor juxtaposed, nor criticized--

But copied just to help them learn--

Then I’m afraid we must be stern.

Don’t become some lawyer’s mission!

Let us help you get permission.

(After all…

If someone used your dissertation,

Perhaps you’d want some compensation?)

You have a license from me to post this, if it will help.  Sometimes a short couplet can succeed where charts and paragraphs fail (but maybe leave off that last part). 

I wish you a strong heart, and much support, as you protect and guide your institution.

Comments and shaky poetry © Stephanie Adams (2017)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

[1] This is unfortunate, because Fair Use does offer a great deal of protection to academia, as can be seen in the recent case https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/cambridgeuniv-becker-11thcir2016.pdf.  But it is not a simple or over-arching protection!

I won't tease the readers here; generally,[1] the answer is "no."

There are three reasons for this:

Reason 1: a public library director, unlike a library system treasurer and other local "public officers" isn't required by law to carry a bond.

Reason 2: If a public library has the right fiscal controls in place (meaning the director is never solely entrusted with fiscal authority--something that should never happen), there should be little risk of the type "bonding" is designed to mitigate.[2]

Reason 3: the majority of alleged wrong-doing by a public library director should be covered by a library's "Directors and Officers" and "General Liability" Insurance.

For this reason, while "bonding" is not required for most public library directors, a library having adequate insurance is critical.

This is why understanding the scope and costs of a library's "Directors & Officers Insurance," as well as its "General Liability" and "Premises Liability" policies, are critical annual tasks for a library board.

This type of assessment should happen every year with enough time to make sure the library can arrange new coverage if the answers are inadequate or the rates aren’t that competitive (no less than four months before renewal).

Questions to ask the broker should be based on a board's assessment of "what could go wrong?", and can include things such as:

Does our policy cover claims of discrimination, including sexual harassment?

Does our policy cover employee theft?

Does our policy cover alleged copyright and trademark infringement (or "advertising injury")?

Does our policy cover data breach of computers controlled by the library?[3]

What types of claims are excluded?[4]

What is the deductible?[5]

What is the process for reporting possible claims?

Insurance matters are complex and assessing coverage can present a lot of legal and industry jargon.

So, as a primer on the interrelationships and differences in "library world” between 'bonding," "insuring," "indemnifying," "hold harmless" and "Directors and Officers insurance" here is a short poem:

Library bonding, insurance, indemnifications...

What the heck are the differentiations?

Although the distinctions could fill a tome

Here are four rhymes to bring it home:

Director, officer, trustee...

should be insured against liability;

For anyone who with responsibility

The coverage can offer indemnity.

If your library will undertake construction

A performance bond should guarantee completion.

If you need to raise some building money

An approved "bond" can bring the honey.

For a library system treasurer[6]

An "undertaking" you must procure.

For all of these, routine review

Is something that a board should do.

[1] There is always an exception to what is "generally" true in the law.  For instance, a large library that puts additional fiscal responsibility on the library's executive director could require such a thing.  But that would be the exception...to find out why, keep reading.

[2] What is "bonding" you ask?  I have a short poem for you (see below).

[3] Many times, it is the cooperative library system's computers that need this coverage...an arrangement that varies from system to system in New York.

[4] This is a critical consideration!

[5] This one is important!  If you have a $75,000.00 deductible, for many claims, you might as well not have coverage.

[6] Actual requirement for a treasurer of a cooperative library system is: "Before entering upon his duties, such treasurer shall execute and file with the trustees an official undertaking in such sum and with such sureties as the board shall direct and approve. The treasurer need not be a member of such board."