“We’ll Do It Live”: Building Access to Video Content Based on Freedoms of Use

Film collections in academic libraries, including streaming video and DVDs, serve a variety of user populations and needs. Videos are used by faculty as part of instruction, by student clubs or other groups as part of public programming, and by individuals for personal study or entertainment. These various use situations are addressed by the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sec. 101 et seq., and license agreements that accompany video purchases. To maximize use of video collections, and by extension, funds expended on video collections, libraries need to fully understand their rights under the law, track video licenses, and build access around freedoms to stream and publicly display videos. The George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida undertook a project to identify videos acquired with public performance or streaming licenses and better communicate the existence and meaning of these licenses to users. This project included new workflows for cataloging and acquisitions, training for library faculty and staff on uses of video allowed under the Copyright Act and when a license should be obtained, and proposal of a front-end search and browsing discovery interface for users to find video content by public performance and streaming rights. This paper discusses the mechanics of acquiring, cataloging, and making discoverable video content based on freedoms of use.