Gen: A copyright issue

[Kate Hass <khass@MAIL.AVCI.NET>]

A member of our staff is the editor for the professional journal of our
state English teachers organization.  She has a copyright question for
which we can find no clear answer.  We have checked several sources and
have come up with what seem to be conflicting answers.  I have suggested to
her that we tap the considerable expertise of this listserv, believing that
one of the group has the answer she is seeking.  The question is:

An article has been submitted for publication in a state-level professional
organization's newsletter-type publication, which publishes such things as
book reviews and "lesson plan"- type articles. This article is a lesson
plan which includes 2 poems by a single author.  The poems are complete and
meet the "short poem, 250 words or under" test under fair use guidelines
for classroom instruction.  May the organization publish this article using
appropriate citation of authorship and source in the article's
bibliography, or must they also obtain permission from the author to use
the poem in this publication? The newsletter is not copyrighted.  Not being
sure of the legality of publication, the leadership would rather turn down
the article as is, but the editor would prefer to publish it if it is
appropriate to do so due to the quality of the piece.

Thank you for any help you can give us.
Kate Hass
Librarian
Ubly High School
Ubly, MI 48475
khass@avci.net

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