Well well well...tis the season, huh?
Just a bit of retrospective here...As I recall, when I was in elementary school
Christmas (and yes, I'm using that dirty politically incorrect word) was a time
for having FUN at school. And yes, that included piling into the gym and
watching movies. Copyright be damned. What harm can you be doing by showing a
few holiday movies to a bunch of elementary age kids? Instilling the joy of the
season? Providing them with a sense of awe and wonder? For shame...
In Canada our copyright laws are different -- perhaps a tad more ambiguous and
undefined at the moment (it's only a matter of time), but I think they tend to
run along similar lines to the U.S. However, having worked at a Medical School
library and hearing the tales from my partner who works at a Law School library,
I would say that copyright law is broken on a daily basis by professors,
students and administrators. I was responsible for clearing copyright for the
Medical School, yet constantly had to turn the other cheek. My favourite line
was usually, "Just don't tell me about it." I also worked for a large Canadian
news broadcaster and watched copyright law broken on national television ALl THE
TIME. Hmmm...kind of puts showing a movie to kids in perspective.
I agree that buying a license is the way to go -- for print, electronic
resources, and media. However, let's be rational here. Kids are kids...You're
not going to get them to do any meaningful work on the last day of school before
the holidays. Kids have way too much stress in their lives as it is.
Everything is so restrictive and regulated now. Let them sit and veg and watch
a movie and get excited for the coming event.
Ok...that's my 2 cents (Canadian)...what's the exchange on that? }:-)
I'm off to the pub.
Cheers and merriness to all.
Maggie.
--
Maggie McFarlane, MA, MLIS
Library Support Specialist
Halifax Regional School Board
Cell: (705) 698-9264
mcfarlane@staff.ednet.ns.ca
http://www.hrsb.ns.ca/
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