Streaming Media Guidelines for Fair Use
I. Introduction
Streaming Panopto videos through Sakai acts as an extension of the classroom to provide access to required course materials in support of the academic mission of The University of Baltimore. This service is provided upon instructor request, within the bounds of the Fair Use guidelines of Title 17, United States Code.
The Federal Copyright Law sets strict limits on the distribution of copyrighted media materials. The University of Baltimore encourages the appropriate use of commercial media material within the spirit and letter of the law. The law exists to promote the useful arts and sciences as well as to protect the ownership rights of copyright holders. The University seeks a balance between higher education's need to easily access and use information, and the rights of the owners.
A. Who makes decisions
The Coordinator for Course Reserves will make initial determinations in regards to the appropriate use of media materials for the MediaStream service.
B. Appeals of decisions
If a streaming media request has been denied and the party wishes to resubmit the request for appeal, those requests will be sent to the supervisor of the coordinator of Course Reserves, and/or the Associate Director of Public Services and ultimately the Library Director.
II. Fair use
Fair use allows the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works without permission. These rights are limited. It is important to know that there are no precise rules, only “guidelines”.
The factors that comprise fair use are:
1. The purpose and character of the use. (commercial or non-profit educational)
2. The nature of the copyrighted work. (Fiction or factual, published or unpublished)
3. The amount and substantiality of the work used.
4. The effect of the use on the value of or market for the original work.
The library will regard digital files required for a course as similar to printed materials used for reserve. All aspects of Fair Use will be considered. In addition limited use will be established.
Robert L. Bogomolny Library’s suggested guideline would allow the streaming of copyright protected material for 7 full days, once during a single semester.
After the digital file has been archived from the streaming service, a physical copy of the material may be placed on traditional, in-library use reserve.
Faculty-produced instructional media such as video blogs, lectures, and class created projects may be uploaded and streamed via the system directly within Sakai without engaging in the media review process.
III. Types of works accepted for streaming media
Media materials streamed via Sakai will be at the initiative of instructors for the educational and non-commercial use of their students, and must conform to established copyright guidelines. Access to such digital copies must be through campus-restricted networks.
A. Library owned copies
Library owned media in physical format will be prepared for streaming by the Office of Technology Services. Instructors may request selected scenes and/or entire films to be digitized and made available to those registered for their course, per instructor request.
If possible, the library will seek to acquire its own copy of the requested item.
B. Faculty owned copies
A faculty member may lend his/her own legally obtained copy of a DVD or Blueray to be converted to a digital file for the use of students registered in a course. If a physical work is lent to the library, after the 7 day streaming period, the item can be returned to the faculty or placed on traditional in-library use reserve. The university will not be liable for damage or loss of such work.
The university may store course files for future re-use. This includes the digital copy made from an instructor's original if the library has made a good faith effort to purchase its own copy commercially. Due to the expense of maintaining the digital file storage, any material that is not re-used within 4 consecutive semesters may be removed from the archive storage. If the faculty member is confident that the material will not be used again, the library would appreciate having this information provided to the reserves coordinator in order to reduce overuse of our purchased storage space.
IV. Requirements
A. Lead time
Streaming media requests will have to be reviewed for fair use and copyright clearance; therefore, the library asks that such requests be submitted well in advance of the date needed for student use.
The amount of time it takes to process a streaming media request will be affected by whether the work has already been digitally converted. We encourage faculty to create the digital file themselves and provide that to the reserves coordinator to pass onto the Office of Technology Services for online streaming.
Please allow at least 14 DAYS for materials to be available as streaming media.
B. Notice of copyright
Media items that are protected by copyright, regardless of fair use or copyright clearance, must include a copyright notice on the digitized file.
V. Restrictions
A. Any further transmission or distribution of this material violates copyright laws.
B. Access to all digital streaming media files will be restricted to students in your class to ensure compliance with the fair use and the U.S. Copyright Law. Students in your class will be authenticated through Sakai and university authentication.
C. Faculty will be limited to using the service for REQUIRED media, not for recommended or suggested media.
D. Students can access electronic reserve items through the SAKAI learning platform 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any Internet connected computer.
E. Items previously submitted for use on the streaming media system may be requested by a faculty member to be activated for use in a new semester. Original copies need not be provided. Faculty should consider carefully the fair use of material posted for repeated use, considering potential detrimental effect on the marketplace.
Information concerning the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
The TEACH Act covers works an instructor would show or play such as movie or music clips, images of artworks in an art history class, or a poetry reading. It does not cover “recommended” materials an instructor may want students to study, read, listen to or watch on their own time. Instructors will have to rely on other rights they may have to post those materials.