Media Resources Copyright FAQ
- Ryan Ahn
- Theepiga S
- Natasha Jennings
Yes, provided the copy is legally obtained, you may show DVDs or VHS videos in class for teaching purposes. All titles in the Media Resources Library can be shown in class for teaching purposes.
Please see Digitizing Audio Video Material While Respecting the Copyright Act for more information (authentication required).
Permission is required to change formats for accessibility purposes. Using existing closed-captioned media is encouraged. The cost of making a request to a vendor to close caption, or to modify a non-closed-captioned DVD from a television series can be very costly and time consuming.
The streaming subscriptions that Media Resources has with NFB, Criterion, CBC Curio, Digitalia and Psychotherapy.net are intended for educational use. That includes classroom, distance education courses and assignments (where a prof does not show the program in the class but assigns it to the students to watch on their own time). Other individual streaming services like Prime Video, Netflix, or Crave, require that you agree to terms and conditions that limit use of the service to personal use, and so these services cannot be used in classrooms, with some exceptions (see below).
Some Netflix movies can be screen for educational use in certain circumstances. Information about this can be found here: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/57695 . Specific titles can be found on this list: https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix#/all?page=1