School librarians and educators have specific copyright questions that are often glossed over in larger books on the subject. Now, thanks to best-selling copyright authority Carrie Russell, there's a resource just for them, offering clear guidance for providing materials to students while carefully observing copyright law. Using whimsical…

This theme issue presents nine articles that describe the availability of various types of computer software for use by patrons in academic, public, school, and special libraries. Topics discussed include selection and evaluation, cataloging and classification, physical access including circulation, copyright and other legal considerations,…

Reviews federal copyright laws protecting computer software and what school districts must do to be in compliance with the law. (PKP)

The Copyright Act of 1976, particularly the guidelines on fair use, did much to clarify the ambiguity of the 1909 Copyright Act in relation to new electronic media. Although some specific guidelines for teachers were included, it should be noted that microcomputers and disk drives were not yet widely available in 1976. Because experts were divided…

To avoid microcomputer software copyright infringement, administrators must be aware of the law, read the software agreements, maintain good records, submit all software registration cards, provide secure storage, post warnings, be consistent when establishing and enforcing policies, consider a site license, and ensure the legality of currently…

Explains provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, highlighting the fair use doctrine, which allows limited reproduction and use without copyright owners' permission under certain conditions. Fair use may be successfully invoked for reproducing protected materials for classroom use if each copy bears the copyright notice and the reproduction…

This document contains three position papers concerned with copyright, cataloging, and software standards for educational software. In the first paper, "Cataloguing Educational Software: Is There a Problem?" R. N. Tucker advocates the cataloguing of educational software in the same way and in the same place as other materials in a…

Noting a recent increase in the number of cases of computer crime and computer piracy, this paper takes up the question, "How can understanding the social context of computing help us--as parents, educators, and members of government and industry--to educate young people to become morally responsible members of an electronic information…

Describes Electronic Software Delivery System (ESDS), which allows teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District to access and preview software stored at a central location. Hardware used in the system is explained, and security of programs stored on the system is emphasized as the key to its success. (LRW)

The seventh in a series and the third annual update, this annotated bibliography provides an overview of the literature entered in the ERIC database in 1987 on computer use in elementary and secondary education, adult education, and special education. The first of four sections provides a list of overview documents on computer assisted…

This report of a symposium for educators in the province of Alberta provides background information on the symposium, a set of six major recommendations made by the participants, reports from the working groups to which participants were assigned; and the text of 12 papers presented at the meeting. The nine chapters of the report document the…

Designed to provide guidance for librarians, this publication expresses the opinion of the legal counsel of the American Library Association (ALA) regarding library and classroom use of copyrighted videotapes and computer programs. A discussion of videotapes considers the impact of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976 on in-classroom use, in-library…

Computer software, which often takes years to produce, is currently being copied and used illegally in school settings. This violation of the law has many repercussions within the academic community. In this discussion, several court cases dealing with this situation are emphasized. It is also noted that the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment…

Open source has continued to evolve and in the past three years the development of a graphical user interface has made it increasingly accessible and viable for end users without special training. Open source relies to a great extent on the free software movement. In this context, the term free refers not to cost, but to the freedom users have to…

This annotated bibliography provides an overview of literature entered into the ERIC database in 1988 on computer use in elementary and secondary education, adult education, and special education. The first of four sections provides a list of overview documents on: computer-assisted instruction. Focusing on special applications, the second section…