Case+42+-+Mrs.+Dunbar's+Anatomy+Class's+Workbooks

Mrs. Dunbar teaches Anatomy and Physiology to seniors. This course uses a textbook and a corresponding workbook. Each year Mrs. Dunbar orders new workbooks for her students. Last June Mrs. Dunbar was ill and was not in school to order these workbooks. When she returned to school in September, she realized that no one had ordered the workbooks for her students. She needed these workbooks in order for her students to record their data from the work they were learning in class. She went to her supervisor and told him of her problem. He responded that he was sorry but it would take four to six weeks for the order to be processed and to “make do” until the workbooks arrived. Mrs. Dunbar had one workbook left over from last year and made copies of the first 2 chapters of the workbook for her students with the knowledge that her workbook order would eventually be filled. She was concerned about possible copyright infringements, since the workbook has a warning in it stating that unauthorized copies are not permitted. Because of this warning, Mrs. Dunbar included a copy of the cover of the workbook, so that her students knew that these copied pages came from that workbook.

//Under the Fair Use for Media Literacy practices, Mrs. Dunbar was within her rights to make copies of the pages that she needed in order to ensure that student learning would not be hindered due to the lack of the proper materials. She was not denying the publisher of the monetary benefits by making these copies, since she had already purchased these workbooks and was merely waiting for them to arrive. Additionally, she copied only those chapters that she felt were germane to her educational goals until her order of the purchased workbooks arrived. By making a copy of the front page of the workbook, Mrs. Dunbar has acknowledged the publisher of the workbook. Based on Mrs. Dunbar’s interpretation of the Fair Use for Media Literacy practices, she provided her students with the quality education that she had always been able to provide, while she was waiting for the purchased workbooks to arrive.

Additional Commentary://

Since recording data is vital in the fields of science Mrs. Dunbar’s need to copy the workbook is understood. The case states how Mrs. Dunbar is including the cover page in her copies. Does the cover indicate who the publisher and editor are in addition to the author? What the ISBN number is? These resources are vital in citing your sources. In this particular case the students are using their copies until the original workbooks arrive. At that point they may transfer their findings into their workbooks. They may then use the original workbooks for reference. ~ Amy B.

Based on the given information, I agree that this case would be fair use. Since only portions of the workbooks were copied just to get by while waiting for the workbooks that had been purchased to arrive, it did not affect the publisher’s profits. -Keriann Fry