fair+use

__ Ms. C’s Research Project __
Ms. C is teaching Spanish 5/AP for the first time this year. The syllabus for the course describes course assignments that go along with two textbooks, one for readings and grammar and the other for AP practice. However, Ms. C, who is teaching AP next year as well, wants to prepare different assignments to make her students think outside the box and study real life examples that could apply outside the classroom. To this end, Ms. C has prepared various research projects for each unit. The latest unit deals with the Immigrant Experience. Students are asked to pick a city in the United States and find what the experience of an immigrant person would be like in this city; students are to describe the advantages and disadvantages of being an immigrant in the United States. Ms. C takes her students to the library where students can do research, however all of the books and most of the articles offered in the library are in English and Ms. C wants her students to include some books and articles written in Spanish in their research. Therefore she allows her students to utilize and print from Google Books in order to find books in Spanish. Students are warned that they must cite everything they use. Throughout the year Ms. C and her students have been using Google Books as a source to introduce new material into the classroom, since there are no books in Spanish available in the library and the World Language Department does not have the funds to order additional books for student research. // Commentary: //  This falls under fair use. First the purpose and character of using Google Books is for non-profit and enhancing student learning. Second, students and Ms. C use only the necessary material, to cite rather than the whole book. According to “Google Book Search: fair use or fairly useful infringement?” ([]) the Google Book Project is often debated on whether it falls or does not fall under fair use. However, in the educational context that Ms. C is utilizing the material offered by Google Books, none of the four factors that determine fair use are being violated.