Streaming Media in an Uncertain Legal Environment: A Model Policy and Best Practices for Academic Libraries

Abstract

As VCRs and DVD players become obsolete, online course offerings increase, and flipped pedagogy becomes ubiquitous, academic librarians are frequently confronted with requests from instructors for streaming media. The authors of this article describe the reasoning for and process by which a policy and best practices to manage streaming media requests were developed at a large public university. This policy is guided by the principles set forth in U.S. Copyright Act’s fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) and ARL’s Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries (2012). The policy also includes a workflow for delivering streaming, ADA-compliant video content that cannot be licensed via conventional library means. Moreover, the comparative costs of purchasing subscription video collections versus licensing individual streaming videos at George Mason University are provided for the fiscal years 2013 through 2016.