- This lesson engages learners with the Circular 21 Guidelines, and alerts them to the case-by-case nature of fair use.
This episode is appropriate for courses engaging with the topic of fair use. As such, it is applicable to many different types of librarianship, including academic librarianship, courses about instruction in librarianship, as well as courses in scholarly communication, archives, and digitization. The Circular 21 Guidelines were written to discuss the reproduction of works by librarians and educators and deal with fair use in teaching and librarianship. This conversation is critical to an understanding of fair use as it is applied by librarians because the Circular 21 Guidelines are outdated. Without this critical understanding of the Circular 21 Guidelines, librarians may be tempted to rely on the old, outdated “10%” rule for e-reserve and other copying in libraries which would be incorrect. As such, this episode is critical in any course where information science students will engage with conversations about fair use.
This episode provides you with two conversations about the Circular 21 Guidelines. First, the podcast introduces you to copyright expert Kenny Crews, who explains why the Circular 21 Guidelines are merely suggestions and are not the law. Second, the article by Sara Benson explains how and why the Guidelines are outdated and should not be relied on when conducting a fair use analysis.
Assignment
- Listen to the 15 minute episode.
- After listening to the episode, read both the Circular 21 Guidelines and the short article by Sara Benson about the Guidelines.
Episode available at: https://www.library.illinois.edu/scp/podcast/kenny-crews-dispels-copyright-guideline-myths/
- After listening to the episode, read the Circular 21 Guidelines, available at the U.S. Copyright Office: https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ21.pdf
- Then, read the brief article by Sara Benson about the Guidelines, available through IDEALS: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95176
Total homework time: approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.
During Class
Lead a discussion about the Circular 21 Guidelines. Consider putting students in small groups to discuss the following questions for 20 minutes and then report out to the class. Why were the Guidelines created? By whom? When? Have the Guidelines been updated? If not, should we be following them today? Encourage the students to respond to the critiques in the podcast and the article they read for class. Do they agree that the Guidelines are outdated? Should the Guidelines be updated, ignored, or is there another proposed solution to the issue?
Total class time: 45 minutes to 1 hour.