School Libraries

A local county Music Educators Association has approached my BOCES and has asked if we would house & manage their music library. Apparently, the music library was at one point housed at this BOCES, but was then moved to one of the participating districts when BOCES said they would charge a fee for the service.

Yes, I can point you in the right direction…but I can’t take credit for drawing the map!

Since it pertains to a local “Music Educators Association,” this question brought me on a pleasant journey into the chartered territory of the “New York State School Music Association,” a/k/a “NYSSMA.”

Is a parent or guardian allowed to access the titles of books that that their child(ren) have checked out from the school library?

Are school administrators allowed to access the titles of materials a student checked out?

In the state of New York, library records linked to the names of users can only be disclosed:

1) upon request or consent of the user;

2) pursuant to subpoena or court order; or

3) where otherwise required by statute.

Therefore, the strong default answer to the member’s questions is “NO.”

In a public school...What are the possible legal consequences of showing Netflix or other digital streaming services like HULU from a personal account in a classroom setting.

Can teachers legally stream Netflix services from their personal account in the classroom?

The relationship between a person and their streaming content service is almost always[1] governed by a type of contract called a “license.”

[The member provided a link to a story about an elementary school principal putting on her pajamas and using “Facebook Live” to read her scholars a weekly bedtime story.]

Reading to kids is one of the best thing we can do for them.  If the law gets in the way of that, there is something wrong with the law!

That said, honoring the rights of authors and illustrators who create stories to charm and educate is one of the best ways we can make sure there is always something new to read. 

And it’s the law.  

Teachers at our school like to use pictures from movies to decorate their doors.  What rules apply to this?

At "Ask the Lawyer," we are frequently amazed at the diversity of the copyright questions we get.  When we started the service, we thought we'd often refer people back to answers that had already been covered.

But librarians always find a way to switch things up!

What are the new variables this time?

"Doors" and "images from movies."

Our school district offers a Community Education program that offers courses on a broad range of topics to the community. In some of these Community Education classes the instructor may want to show a DVD movie or stream a movie that is related to the course. Would this violate fair use and copyright?

Flying at 10,000 feet, the answer to the first question is: if the class in in person (not online), AND the institution is non-profit, AND the only viewers are the instructor and the students enrolled in the class, AND the viewing is in the classroom or academic facilities, AND the content is part of the curriculum, AND the copy was legally obtained…then the showing is allowed under Section 110

I would like to decorate a cart for use in a free books initiative I am planning for our school. Our art club is interested and willing to paint and design it. I understand that we can't have them paint covers from books but we'd like to print out book covers and then decoupage them onto parts of the cart. Would that be acceptable? We want to promote the books while respecting copyright!

A tricked-out, decoupaged book cart [1] sounds awesome (especially if it comes with free books).  A commitment to honoring copyright is awesome, too.  And it is entirely possible to do both.

How?

A recent article appeared in a local newspaper that was describing the local efforts of a group called Moms for Liberty to have certain books removed from school libraries because the group consider the titles to be inappropriate for school age children.

I am writing this on May 23, 2023.