Sep 24, 2020
We talk about copyright pretty often, and of course this is important for libraries. People working in all types of libraries are often the ones responsible for advising the rest of their organization on how to best follow federal copyright laws.
And right now, we are in the unusual position of having our school and library buildings open, closed, or in a hybrid situation – with our work moving online. This presents a variety of different copyright situations we need to be considering.
And you may be hearing a variety of contradictory advice. We have been reading a lot of library voices online saying that in an emergency situation, like our current pandemic, it should be okay to use copyright material however we need to. We would be very cautious there, and would not suggest doing that. Federal law does not provide for a “there is a global pandemic happening” exception to copyright laws. So, let’s just play it safe. Let’s follow copyright laws, and let’s encourage our community members to also do it.