"ALA | Editorial Statement," American Library Association, .
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=Distance_Education_and_the_TEACH_Act&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=25939 (Accessed July 22, 2009)

Summary

This article is published by the American Library Association: The text is a summary of the laws and regulations in the TEACH Act (Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act). It discusses how The TEACH Act replaces section 110(2) in regards to copyright and fair use in the Distance Learning environment. The article also highlights what is new in terms of Copyright and fair use for Distance Education as well as what is problematic about the new laws. It is also an attempt to clarify ambiguities within the law and point out areas of improvement as it replaces section 110(2). The article also presents a brief summary of copyright law and closes with the roles of instructors and librarians.

Analysis

The American Library Association ALA presents a really well organized and clear summary of the changes taking place in copyright law in the area of distance education. It provides librarians, instructors and the general public with a quick review of the historical facts as well as the most updated information. It also provides a definition of the TEACH Act and within such a definition a comparison between the previous regulations guided by section 110(2) and the current provisions of the TEACH Act. It summarizes for the reader what is new, what is the same and what is problematic about it. The article is problematic as it is almost mandating a series of guidelines to instructors while perhaps taking the role of librarians as gate keepers a bit too seriously.  In the end although the ALA does a great job in summarizing and describing the laws, it is going a bit too far when it comes to "instructor's duties".