My copyright activity begins with a group of fourth graders who are in the media center to do research for a project

on Native Americans. The students need to m ake notes including the name of the North American tribe they have chosen, where and how they lived, the kind of homes they built, trade routes, and trading par tners. They also need to take notes on any identifying information they come acr oss to seperate their choice from other Native American tribes like the laws tha t governed their societies and their religious beliefs, and schooling for the ch ildren. Students should do their best to bring the tribe alive in their reports. The students will use books from the media center, internet sources, and encyclo pedias. One particular site that we use in our district is World Book Online at www.worldbookonline.com Richmond County schools have access to an enormous amoun t of material at this site. Students are to put the information they find in their own words. To copy word f or word would be a copyright infringement. Any photos or pictures they use must come from fair use sites. Some of the fair use sites are: www.office.microsoft.com/CLIPART www.fotosearch.com/ www.freedigitalphotos.net/ www.searchenginejournal.com/ The students are also able to use Galileo Kids to find articles and entries to h elp fill out their reports. While students are searching the internet for materi al they must adher to copyright laws. Copyright Law allows library photocopying under Section 107 of the Fair Use when meeting the following criteria: Purpose and character of use Nature of work amount and substantiality of the portion used effect upon the potential market for the work Unless the site explicitly states the work is for free use, teachers and student s must first seek permission from the holder of the work before copying any musi c, clipart, video clips, etc. Copyright infringement carries a criminal penalty of fines up to $250,000.00 and up to five years in jail.The penalties are harsh and ignorance of the law is no excuse. The media specialist acts as the copyrigh t advisor for the reproduction and use of copyrighted print, non-print, and elec tronic information, If someone is unsure of the fair use properties of a piece o f information, they should seek the guidance of the media specialist. Students m ust learn that just because they find a picture or some information on the inter net, it is not always available for downloading and free of copyright issues. Th at is the biggest problem I see with both students and teachers. They wrongly as sume that copyright is no big deal and who cares. As the media specialist at my school, I am the first line of defense for copyright laws. I am constantly remin ding everyone in the building of the severity of copyright laws in the United St ates of America. Patricia Krezinski FRIT 7132 March 30, 2010