Ask Us: Scholarly Communications

Usually a small group of friends, family, colleagues, it's OK to show a library video without permission. However, if you want to share it online that becomes problematic. For example, Zoom has something known as "Terms of Service". Under the terms, item #11: It states "You may not post, modify, distribute, or reproduce in any way copyrighted material, trademarks, rights of publicity or other proprietary rights without obtaining the prior written consent of the owner of such proprietary rights." It can be hard to determine who owns the copyright for a DVD but look for the studio on the case and start there. 

Here are some places where you can find video materials that are in the public domain (meaning they are no longer protected by U.S. Copyright), or the creators have applied a Creative Commons license to their work allowing you to share it without permission. Maybe there is an alternative title that will meet your needs (not sure if it's part of training or if it's leisure).

• YouTube

  YouTube has a large collection of videos licensed under one of the Creative Commons licenses or the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication. Note that many videos on YouTube are under copyright and have not been licensed under any open license.
• Vimeo

  Vimeo has a large collection of videos licensed under one of the Creative Commons licenses or the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication. Note that many videos on Vimeo are under copyright and have not been licensed under any open license.
• Moving Image Archive from Internet Archive

  The Moving Image Archive is a service of the Internet Archive. It contains free movies, films, and video, many of which are licensed under one of the Creative Commons licenses or are in the public domain.
• Moving Image Research Center

  The Moving Image Research Center at the Library of Congress provides a number of collections of early motion pictures, many of which are in the public domain.