Thanks for the lengthy, considered response Sarah. No, I do not think you are naive. Most librarians do consider copyright and do the right thing. Unfortunately what the right thing is, is not always clear. Which makes your job more challenging. Some would say more fun. ; )
On Apr 5, 2016, at 4:46 PM, videolib-requ...@lists.berkeley.edu wrote: > > From: "Sarah E. McCleskey" <sarah.e.mccles...@hofstra.edu> > Date: April 5, 2016 4:46:52 PM CDT > To: "videolib@lists.berkeley.edu" <videolib@lists.berkeley.edu> > Subject: Re: [Videolib] Kevin Smith on the new GSU ruling > Reply-To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu > > > Hi Bob, > > The thing is, it’s hard to take that ruling and apply it in a useful and > practical way. The judge interpreted the 4th factor (market effect) using > exceedingly specific information about each title, information only made > available by the publishers during the discovery process. She did not use > information that a regular person would have access to. So it’s kind of a > weird ruling for us in the trenches. Also, it’s very specifically geared to > mirror copying of print excerpts. > > Also, maybe I’m being naïve here, but I feel like librarians who are > acquiring streaming content generally have respect for content providers and > want to use content responsibly. Of course, different librarians have > different interpretations of what is “responsible” but speaking for myself, I > value my relationships with video content providers and I want you all to > keep producing that content and making it available in easy to use platforms. > > Imho, the more vendors make licenses readily available and affordable for > streaming content, the more likely that users will pay for licensing. And so > many (honestly, most!) of you vendors have indeed made it super easy to > acquire or access your content (frequently in my case, via a PDA package) in > streaming format. We all have different acquisition models based on our > institutional mission and curricular needs, and over the past 10 years you > vendors have really worked hard to provide flexible licensing options to meet > those different needs. > > I honestly can’t see why anyone would go to the trouble to digitize and host > “secret” streaming content for provision to students in one online course, as > long as it’s relatively easy and not too expensive to get a license and make > the content widely available for your users. Just the costs involved with > ripping, uploading, having a server that can handle that stuff, legwork > running DVDs over to another building on campus for the upload … and then > when the professor wants to use that same content again next year or > whatever, they most likely do not have an easy way to go back and find that > content, because it has no metadata and is just stored as a file name on a > server somewhere on campus. > > Now, the stuff Maureen was looking for seemed a bit tricky, but I think > people had some very good suggestions for places to look for streaming short > films. I suggested YouTube, and certainly there’s a lot of illegal stuff on > there, but there also is often content put up by the filmmaker because they > *want* people to see their work! Barb suggested indieflix, which is dirt > cheap, and Netflix, Amazon, Vimeo, Hulu, etc. are all expanding (and of > course losing sometimes) content, all the time. It’s not unreasonable, in my > opinion, to ask students to subscribe to a few pay per view services, or to > pay for a one-time streaming rental if you can’t afford a license, or if a > license isn’t readily available. It’s a cost of education and certainly less > expensive than most textbooks. > > I stand by my earlier statement that if you cannot find the content legally > online, and cannot locate the rightsholder after a really thorough search > (WorldCat, ImdbPro, Variety, Facebook (for filmmaker), LinkedIn, google > search (for director's name, producer's name, and/or distributor) ... if all > those come up blank, you could consider whether it might be fair use to > stream the content, accessible only to the members of the class for the > duration of the class. > > My .02 … > > Sarah
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
