[LM_NET] HIT: Copyright question on pictures of books

[Barbara Wheatley <barbwheatley@GMAIL.COM>]

*

It was interesting to see that I wasn't the only one confused about this
question.  I will probably use a document camera to display the book and not
worry about violating copyright.  Thank you so much to all who answered!
Below is the original question and the responses that I received.



Question:

I read this idea posted by a librarian on a bookseller website and would
like to make sure it doesn’t violate copyright before thinking of doing
this.  There are so many gray areas it is sometimes hard to know for sure.

Can a librarian take photos of the pages of a picture book and put them in a
PowerPoint show when reading aloud?  This show would be used in face to face
teaching with students and would not be posted on any website or other
locations. It would not take the place of purchasing a copy of the book or
be sold or distributed.  It would only be used in one time period (not year
from year) for state award books.

The only consideration I thought of is that it is not a small portion of the
book that would be displayed but the whole book.



 Answers:

1.     A few years ago I wanted to make a powerpoint of Green Eggs and Ham,
to project during an assembly for a huge read aloud.  I was told by people
on LM_NET that for a one time use, and because I wasn't re-creating
something that I could purchase, this is okay.
If the book is digitalized and you buy it, but instead you are scanning the
pages yourself, that's illegal.  I think of it the same was as copying a
Video Tape. It's okay if the movie is not available on DVD. But if you are
copying it to get out of buying it in DVD form then you are breaking the
law.



2.      This actually is a violation of copyright. Publishers take this
seriously, and with a picture book the illustrations are an integral, vital
part of the finished product.



3.       I wanted to do this once with a chapter book I was reading aloud to
a class, because the illustrations were so beautiful. I wrote to the
publisher asking for permission to scan the few illustrations and put them
in a powerpoint. I received permission, but was told I had to delete the
powerpoint when I was finished.



4.      Not sure about the copyright on this one, but I do have an alternate
suggestion.  Instead of taking pictures of the books do you have an ELMO
or a document camera that could be used to show the books?  You might
have to hold the book open or move from side to side to show both pages,
but it would save you the time it would take to make the power point.



5.     Barbara, think about this logically.  The print guidelines allow a
teacher
to make copies of only TWO pages of a picture book.  The multimedia
guidelines (covering powerpoint type presentations) limit the number of
images from a given artist and a given book (see the guidelines themselves
for the numbers for each).  Neither allows making copies of an entire work.
You can always go through a fair use analysis, but it seems to be a poor
outcome. You are not making anything transformative -- you are just copying
the images.  The work is creative. You are copying all of the work.  And
this work takes the place of the original. That means only one of the four
factors (non-profit educational use) is in your favor.  Not a good analysis.



6.     For one of my assignments in library school we had to create a
powerpoint. I took pictures of various reference books in my library and
cited each underneath with the 'c' symbol, then again in the last slide
(sources cited list).



7.      A better option would be to use a document camera to project the
pages
of the book while you are reading aloud to the students.  Copyright does not
allow for changing the format which in this instance would be from print to
digital. You could probably build a case of Fair Use citing face-to-face
instructional purposes as long as you didn't archive the photos or share
them with anyone else.  Still my recommendation would be to use a document
camera and then you wouldn't have to worry about copyright infringement.

*--
Barbara Wheatley, LMS
Rappahannock County Elementary School
Washington, VA
barbwheatley@rappahannock.k12.va.us

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