Who isn't? You want to use the resources that you feel best suit the educational goals of your students, but you certainly don't want to break the law. With takedown notices and copyright notices posted everywhere, its intimidating and you may be unsure of what you can and cannot do. While this presentation is meant to provide no legal guidance or counsel, it is meant to give YOU the tools to help make better, more informed decisions on what is and is not permissible.

Section 107 of the Copyright Act permits the reproduction of copyrighted works when done for the purpose of criticism, comments, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research and when the balance of four factors specified in the statute weighs in favor of a finding of fairness.

Those "10%, 30 seconds, 100 words" are from the Fair Use Guidelines (aka. Educational Use Guidelines) and they are NOT THE LAW. While the intention of these guidelines was to provide a safe harbor for educators to use certain copyrighted material without fear of violating the law, the guidelines clearly state that they "state the minimum and not the maximum standards of educational fair use under Section 107."

Be very wary of charts or checklists that reference these Guidelines. Fair Use must be applied for each situation. Don't limit yourself. Exercise the power of Fair Use!

1. Purpose and Character of the use of copyrighted work
2. Nature of the copyrighted work
3. Amount of copyrighted work used
4. Impact on potential market

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The Internet Archive

Smithsonian Institute PD Photos

New York Times PD Archive

Library of Congress

Heather Lister, K-6 Librarian

Hempfield School District

Email: heather_lister@hempfieldsd.org
Website: http://about.me/heather.lister
Twitter: @LibrarianLister