Q. What does "home use only" on a video mean?

A film that has been cataloged as "home use only" should only be watched in the privacy of one's home. These films are not licensed to be shown in a public performance setting.

Faculty and associates often want to show movies in a public setting for their clubs, classes or organizations. Please be advised that unless the movie is in the public domain or you acquire the movie with public performance rights (PPR), you will be breaking the copyright law.  Only a small percentage of the DVDs in Berkeley's Libraries have PPR, mostly documentaries. Just as you cannot rent a movie from the local video store and then screen it in a public space, you cannot show movies in a public setting without first determining if you have permission to do so.

Why?

Typically, DVDs purchased through normal retail or rental channels do not carry the necessary public performance rights for course use at Berkeley College.  While public performances of a video/DVD in the face-to-face classroom falls under the Classroom Use Exemption (17 U.S.C. §110(1), to qualify for this exemption four conditions apply. You must: 1) be in a classroom, 2) be there in person 3) be engaged in face-to-face teaching activities, and 4) be at a nonprofit educational institution. 

What videos can I show in my classes?

As we are excluded by our for-profit status, the Library makes every effort to assist faculty who wish to show video content in the classroom by obtaining, most often through a licensing agreement, public performance rights. We subscribe to a large number of streaming film collections with PPR rights. Faculty are permitted to utilize videos and movies from any of our licensed streaming video collections. Titles from these collections can be shown in the classroom or embedded within a Canvas course.

You can access our streaming media collections by clicking here!

Faculty can also request that the library purchase PPR rights to a commercial movie. Click on the Motion Pictures on SWANK Digital Campus page in the above guide for more info and to see a list of currently available titles in our SWANK Digital Campus Collection. Follow directions on the LibGuide to request purchase of something you need for class that we don't already have.

Kanopy Films is another large streaming media database of mostly educational films that we provide access to, but not all of the thousands of films are immediately available. Follow the instructions on the Kanopy FAQ to request purchase of a film that isn't playing immediately.