The unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic has necessitated schools in the U.S. and around the world to shut their doors. As a result, many of us parents (and grandparents) have our school-age children at home. And while this creates the opportunity to spend quality time with the younger set, it is also a challenging time for the increasing number of schools and teachers who continue to strive to meet the educational needs of their pupils, as well as the curriculum demands of their states and regions, in the midst of these shutdowns. In that context, significant numbers of teachers and school administrators across the U.S. have been contacting Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) with urgent questions and requests about how they can use copyrighted materials to support new and creative methods of teaching their students at a distance. In response, CCC immediately began coordinating with its network of publishers and other rightsholders to provide a broad authorization for U.S. educators to address this critical need.
Here are the details of this new Education Continuity License:
• The new license authorizes educators in the U.S. to use publishers’ materials in distance learning models and other uses as required by the pandemic, at no cost, during this time of emergency.
• CCC will not collect fees from any party and will administer this service for no cost.
• In just a few days, nearly 50 publishers have agreed to grant these rights at no cost through this license. We continue to solicit publishers to participate.
• CCC has posted a form on its website so that educators can look up participating publishers and record their intended use of materials covered under the license.
• CCC is not delivering educational materials or content as part of the license; the license allows U.S. school districts, educators, parents and others to make immediate additional uses of materials that they have lawfully acquired.
• The authorization will run through mid-summer 2020, at which time CCC will work with rightsholders to assess whether an extension may be necessary.
As a parent and grandparent, this seems very much the right thing to be doing in these trying times. I also appreciate the responsiveness of the publishers who have so rapidly stepped up to the challenge of our times —in this and so many other ways.