Public Domain

[This question comes from a regional BOCES.]

An academic librarian relayed this question from a researcher/author:

I am of the understanding that NYS departments documentation falls under public domain. Can you provide any insight into this? Thank you!

The song “Pomp & Circumstance” is in the public domain.

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.

I am working with an artist on a future display at our library. He is a regionally known professional artist.

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?

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? 

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

We would like to digitize newspapers that were published prior to 1923. Since the paper is still in business, does public domain apply in this case?