Thursday, July 29, 2010

Good News! New DMCA exemptions benefit university faculty and students

On Monday, the Copyright Office announced new rules on exemptions from prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Their words, not mine.

Ever since the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) became law, faculty members and students alike have been legally hindered from using DVDs in the ways they had been able to use VHS videotapes in educational situations, such as clip compilations for class use. It made it illegal to break the encryption on DVDs for any reason. Over time new rules were released that enabled Film Studies professors to break the encryption for clip compilations. That was a step in the right direction but it didn't address the fact that visual media has become a hugely popular teaching aid for classes across the curriculum and it was just as likely that a literature or sociology professor would be interested in using clip compilations in their teaching.

Finally after a call-for-comments, hearings, and about a year of deliberation, the new set of rules has been released and there is real progress for the academic community.

To wit:
circumvention of the copy-protection on legally-acquired DVDs is permitted for the use of short portions of motion pictures in derivative works, for the purpose of criticism and comment, in the following instances:

(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos.

There are additional rules but that change is the one that most directly impacts us.

Check the source: Rulemaking on Anticircumvention text

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Return Your Library Items at the Media Services Desk


To make things easier for our users, the three main desks - Circulation, Media Services, and Music Library - will now accept items from the other two desks. This means if you already plan to come come down to Media Services to check out a Home Use title and you have a music CD to return to Katzen, you can feel free to drop it off here at our desk and we'll be sure to get it over to the Music Library that day. This does not apply to Copy Center and Reserves items. Those items must be returned to their respective desks as usual, since they are time sensitive. But just think of all the time you'll save by choosing one desk to visit as opposed to three!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Media Services is on Twitter

Did you know Media Services is on Twitter? Why? Well we're not quite sure either but if David Lynch and Snoop Dogg are doing it, we ought to be too. http://twitter.com/AUMediaServices

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Check out the Media Services Blu-ray collection!!

When it comes to Blu-ray, we're just getting our feet wet. As more quality titles come out on Blu-ray, we'll be sure to add to our collection and announce them here. Remember: Blu-ray DVDs can only be played on Blu-ray DVD players. We have one here in Media Services in viewing room 10. Please feel free to come down to Media Services to check out one of these titles to watch in Room 10, so you can see what Blu-ray's all about.
Avatar - HU BLU-RAY DVD 7045
Bonnie and Clyde - HU BLU-RAY DVD 1605
Fantastic Mr. Fox - HU BLU-RAY DVD 7046
Nixon - HU BLU-RAY DVD 28
El Norte - HU BLU-RAY DVD 5225
Persepolis - HU BLU-RAY DVD 4498
Planet Earth - HU BLU-RAY DVD 2721 - 2725
Ponyo - HU BLU-RAY DVD 6937
Ratatouille - HU BLU-RAY DVD 3814
Searchers - HU BLU-RAY DVD 1808
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - HU BLU-RAY DVD 6329
Stagecoach - HU BLU-RAY DVD 50
Watchmen - HU BLU-RAY DVD 6080
Up - HU BLU-RAY DVD 6690

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Watch full length episodes of the PBS series, "P.O.V." for free.

"POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 275 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues." --taken from the POV website.

Media Services Staff Picks - Todd

Hard Boiled - HU DVD 3459
Trainspotting - HU DVD 1002
Clerks - HU DVD 1423
Fallen Angels - HU DVD 5294
Apocalypse Now - HU DVD 27

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Selected New Home Use Acquisitions

Spider-Man - HU DVD 7121
Spider-Man 2 - HU DVD 7122
Spider-Man 3 - HU DVD 7123
Juegos de Guerra - HU DVD 7124
Men Who Stare at Goats - HU DVD 7125
Madness of King George - HU DVD 7126
Thunderheart - HU DVD 7127
Last Detail - HU DVD 7128
Junoon - HU DVD 7129
Weight of Water - HU DVD 7130
Science is Fiction - HU DVD 7191 - 7193
Romancing the Stone - HU DVD 7194
Precious - HU DVD 7195
Perez Family - HU DVD 7196
Superbad - HU DVD 7197
Rosewood - HU DVD 7198
Vanishing - HU DVD 7200
It Happened in Hollywood - HU DVD 7201
Adventures in Sahara - HU DVD 7202
Power of the Press - HU DVD 7203
Shockproof - HU DVD 7204
Scandal Sheet - HU DVD 7205
Crimson Kimono - HU DVD 7206
Underworld U.S.A. - HU DVD 7207
Where the Wild Things Are - HU DVD 7208
Tragedia de Macario - HU DVD 7209
Lighthorsemen - HU DVD 7210
Secret of Roan Inish - HU DVD 7211
Sleepless in Seattle - HU DVD 7214
So Proudly We Hail - HU DVD 7215
Perdicion de Hombres - HU DVD 7216
Road - HU DVD 7217
Our Town - HU DVD 7218
They Were Expendable - HU DVD 7219
Sita Sings the Blues - HU DVD 7220
Babe - HU DVD 7221
Babe: Pig in the City - HU DVD 7222
Quemar las Naves - HU DVD 7223
Moonlighting - HU DVD 7224
Posse - HU DVD 7225
Tales of Hoffman - HU DVD 7226
Objectified - HU DVD 7227
Mancora - HU DVD 7228
Red Badge of Courage - HU DVD 7229
Taken - HU DVD 7230
Rise of Disaster Capitalism - HU DVD 7231
Secret Life of the Brain - HU DVD 7232
This Emotional Life - HU DVD 7233
Prom Night in Mississippi - HU DVD 7235
Children of Dune - HU DVD 7241
Up in the Air - HU DVD 7242
Tale of Two Cities - HU DVD 7246
Sugar - HU DVD 7247
28 Weeks Later - HU DVD 7248
Lark Farm - HU DVD 7249
Single Man - HU DVD 7250
Bad Day at Black Rock - HU DVD 7254
Gigi - HU DVD 7255
Criss Cross - HU DVD 7256
Sweet Bird of Youth - HU DVD 7258
Crime Wave/Decoy - HU DVD 7259
House by the River - HU DVD 7264
Seabiscuit - HU DVD 7265