Copyright

I want to screen a film in my in-person class. Do I need public performance rights?

You can screen a film in an in-person class without having public performance rights as long as a) attendance is limited to students currently enrolled in the class, and b) the screening helps you achieve the educational goals of your course. If those conditions are met, your showing of the film is considered fair use.

Can I invite my students to bring friends when I screen a film in class?

Only if you have public performance rights for the film. Inviting people from outside the class expands your use of the film beyond purely educational purposes and is not considered fair use.

What about other kinds of screenings, e.g., for student groups, department events, film festivals, Symposium Day, etc.?

Events such as these will require you to have public performance rights.

Where can I find films that come with public performance rights?

Augustana subscribes to several streaming film databases in which all of the films come with public performance rights. These databases are linked in the box below, and alphabetically through the library's A-Z Resources page.

You can also locate our streaming films in OneSearch by conducting a search and filtering to Resource Type: Videos. kanopy films that we are currently renting are indexed in OneSearch, as are all the films from the other film databases. To locate potential new films to rent on kanopy, you will have to search kanopy directly.

Do we have public performance rights for the DVDs in Tredway Library's collection?

In some cases we do, but in most cases we do not. DVDs for which we have public performance rights may be labeled as such on the DVD case. Check with a librarian if you are at all uncertain.

What else do I need to know?

For more information about copyright related to multimedia material, see the Augustana College Copyright Policy (linked above), especially section VI.