From: Allan Scherlen <scherlnag_at_appstate.edu>
Subject: Public Performance Rights of Documentary Videos Licensed at
Purchase: Summary of Responses.
A Summary of the responses to the original question.
Original Question: How do academic libraries manage the exhibition
rights of documentary videos they purchase which include educational,
non-commercial exhibition rights in the sale price of the videos? Are
these video titles put on a list of videos OK to show to the public?
Is a note put in the cataloging record? Are patrons who ask for
documentation to prove the video is permissible to exhibit to a group
for educational, non-commercial purposes given such documentation or
told to contact the vendor, or is some other procedure followed? [In
this question I am referring primarily to videos from such vendors,
for example, as: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Bullfrog
Films, First Run/Icarus Films, Latin American Video Archives,
Filmmakers Library, New Day Films, etc.]
================
Included below are 1) responses I received from a few Colldv-L
subscribers and 2) responses I found to similar inquiries on VIDEOLIB
Here are the Colldv responses:
1a. “We check with the publisher before purchasing and purchase only
those with public exhibition rights. As we are an academic library,
it would be impossible to monitor how the videos/DVSs are being used,
so we take no chances of unintentionally breaking the law.”
1b. “When I worked in a media department at another library (through
1998), we decided to handle this by adding a local note to videos that
were purchased with public performance rights. This practice was
particularly useful because we were part of a consortium that had
agreed to circulate videos among the institutions. Because the note
displayed in our shared catalog, the staff at the other institutions
had the information necessary to advise their faculty in the use of
the videos. I kept any licensing paperwork on file.”
1c. “Within the video collection at our library, we have titles we
have purchased that do come packaged with PPR from vendors like:
Ambrose Video, Bullfrog Films, Films for the Humanities & Sciences,
First Run Icarus Films, University of California Extension/Center for
Media & Independent Learning, Video Project (if institutional price),
plus some like PBS Video that may have limited public performance
rights unless
purchased as PBS HOME Video (this is by no means a complete list of
PPR vendors).
“We have not kept track in any systematic way (i.e. in a catalog
record, database, or even print list) of what video comes with PPR,
and this is a huge oversight; it's something that needs to be done and
many libraries are doing this. We rely on the 'institutional memory'
of those involved in the ordering of media to have this knowledge,
hardly ideal.
“At [our institution] we have many groups (both student & academic)
who often present
'film series' on campus throughout the year. We also have a campus
movie theater that is now insisting that those putting on these
screenings provide a print PPR license to the movie theatre admin
offices PRIOR to any screening--so often I'll get frantic calls from
folks wanting to know what this "PPR thing" is and can I help? And I
do help to track
down PPR, which can be a lengthy process.
“My thoughts are that there needs to be a lot more outreach/education
to library patrons/users about what's involved with PPR. Short of a
library having an in-house 'copyright office/copyright officer' whose
task is to do nothing but field and answer all copyright questions and
requests full time, having some explanation and resources listed on a
library's webpage (or a print handout) is a good place to start
(admittedly this
is something I must do but have not yet!); the film/video industry as
a whole could be doing more to help in explaining and simplifying
things. The responsibility does ultimately fall on the awareness of
the person using the video (i.e. that he/she is using it for its
licensed/intended use).”
1d. “…We will ONLY purchase documentary videos with PPR. Feature
films, aka "movies" we do not purchase with PPR, but we try to make
faculty of the relevant copyright restrictions on their use.”
Here are summaries I am including from VIDOELIB on the subject:
2a. Tue, 01 Feb 2005 10:17:24 -0700
“We keep the licenses by title alphabetical in a filing cabinet and
have a an entry in the bib record that says public performance rights.
That way, when people want a list we can pull it up. We also keep a
list of vendors whose titles come with PPR and if we buy something
from them that does not come with rights, we make a note on the video
itself.”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0018.html
2b. Tue, 1 Feb 2005 10:18:44 -0700
“Our library does not keep any records on this, but insists on buying
the PPR rights if they are available as part of a package deal. I
think they are throwing their money away, as there is no way of going
back and finding out if we actually own the rights later (or
informing our customers that we have the rights). I tried to get them
to discuss documenting this somehow in the record, but nothing has
come of it yet. I would prefer they just don't buy them, as we have
never used them, but....”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0019.html
2c. Tue, 1 Feb 2005 11:39:25 -0600
“I just put in a proposal to do a poster session at ALA about what we
do at University of Iowa. It is a system that I developed and am still
tweaking.
“1. We (Acquisitions) save every license agreement for videos,
including ones that appear on invoices. These are scanned as PDF
files, and saved. Our filing convention is to save in a folder named
by who the agreement is with (usually the distributor name), and then
by individual title.
“2. We send a copy of all license agreements with the physical piece
to be folded up and put in the box if it arrives as a separate piece
of paper. These often get lost, but staff have used them when faculty
complain about restrictive use.
“3. We (Acquisitions staff) add 540s to the bibliographic records to
indicate when we have public performance rights. We also use 540s to
indicate restricted access if necessary. Here are some examples of the
types of notes we use:
540 |a Restricted access: may only be used by University of Iowa
faculty, staff, students, or library card-holders. |5 IaU
540 |a Includes public performance rights |d IaU
“4. The 540 field is keyword searchable in our catalog, so if you
search for the phrase "public performance rights" you can find a list
of what we have available in our collection. Here is a direct link to
our catalog if you want to see what we do:
http://infohawk.uiowa.edu/F?func=file&file_name=find-b&local_base=uiowa
“5. In the future, I'd like to link the scanned license agreement to the
bibliographic record, but we're not there yet.”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0020.html
2d. Tue, 1 Feb 2005 13:12:01 -0500
“If you utilize a computerized booking system or bibliographic
database with booking capabilities integrated into the Library's circ.
system, I'd advise 2 things. First, create a OCLC 690 subject field,
something like "Public performance rights videorecordings." Second,
you can also add a 590 (or any 500 field) and put a note for public
performance rights + date+ vendor. Third, have a sticker on the video
itself that indicates PP rights. In this way, you don't have to keep
licenses (unless they are short term) and patrons will be able to
search for all titles with PP rights. Just check with your automation
librarian/vendor to see what fields are searchable/can be made
searchable and with your catalogers to see what they are "willing" to
add to the OCLC record.”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0023.html
2e. A response from Canada where licensing is more strict - Tue, 01
Feb 2005 11:48:53 -0800
“…We have hundreds of licenses and permissions to keep track of.
Therefore, we have a similar organization to Sarah. Keeping in mind
that in Canada, we must always have PPR for classroom use, you can see
why we have so many licenses.
“First we file licenses by distributor that we purchased the rights
from. Then by title of the program. We do not make the license
publicly viewable as there is a confidentiality
clause in our agreements, and they include the price.
“In the bib. record, we use the MARC 506 and 540 to indicate rights.
We standardize the restrictions by prefacing each phrase with,
Restrictions: see:
http://www.langara.bc.ca/aemac/restriction_phrases.html for further
explanation.
“In the case of feature films, which almost never come with PPR, we
negotiate a blanket license to cover most, but certainly not all of
the film studios. Since the physical item is so blatant about "home
use", most of our institutions do put a label on the item stating that
it is licensed for public performance on campus. Also, the bib. record
will repeat this information.
“For those who are picking and choosing which programs they get
PPR for, I strongly recommend that files be kept showing the rights
that were purchased. This will come back to haunt you if you don't do it.”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0026.html
2f. Tue, 1 Feb 2005 15:02:40 -0600
“Your library must have a record or at least some designation of
materials with PPR included, or else they are absolutely worthless. We
have a separate material code "PPVIDEO" and we also add "Cleared for
Public Performance" stickers on each video with PPR. Our customers are
made aware of the difference and must sign a "responsibility card"
each time they check out PPR titles (mainly because of
the expense of the tapes). I can't even imagine not knowing which
tapes are PPR and which are not. What a disaster!”
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/VideoLib/archive/0502/0032.html
--
Allan Scherlen
Collection Development Librarian for the Social Sciences
Appalachian State University
325 University Drive
PO Box 32026
Boone, NC 28608
828-262-2285
828-262-3001 (fax)
scherlnag_at_appstate.edu
Received on Fri Apr 29 2005 - 01:40:05 EDT