[can-talk] another film collection based question

Hi all,

I thought while the list had a lot of activity on it I might throw in a
slightly curly question and see if the combined brains of this list can
help.

I have, for the past year, been sticking my head in the sand over the vast
collection of audio visual material held by the Australian Tennis Museum,
however can't keep doing this and the more I look into the project of
storing and digitising these the bigger the problems seem to get.  So to
start with I have a few questions about putting the collection on DVD and
I'm really hoping there is someone on this list who knows a bit about
copyright.

The background to the collection is this - it was developed by volunteers
over 25 years before being taken over by Tennis NSW 2 years ago and a single
paid staff member was installed.  The volunteers who developed the
collection had a small amount of training and knowledge in collecting, but
mostly good intentions and an excellent knowledge of tennis.  Thus much of
the collection is in dissarry with very poor records.  The AV collection
suffers from this the most.  The AV collection has over 400 items ranging
from 8mm film to commercial VHS and almost everything in between.  I would
like to be able to show some of this collection in the museum as it relates
to exhibitions, but am a)unable to show much of it due to the formatting and
b) unsure of what I can show due to copyright issues.

So my main questions to all those on the list are these

1)  The information on the copyright council site says that it is allowable
to make a single copy of a Commercial video that you own onto DVD for
private and domestic use.  There is also a legislation about using copied
material for educational purposes.  Does the general museum audience
attending for an exhibition fall under educational purposes, and can I
therefore copy these commercial videos onto DVD so they can be shown in the
museum?

2)  The collection holds some significant items and matches of great
interest on reel film, mostly from the 40s - 70s.  The records do not show
how we came by these (other than those marked as deaccessioned from a
library) or give any information about who recorded these etc.  I do not
have the equipment to view these, and am a bit hesitant about trying to view
them given their age and my complete lack of knowledge about reel film.
Can I make copies of these to show in the museum or do I need to do a whole
lot of research into the ownership and status of them for copyright
purposes?

3)  There are a vast number of videos copied off the TV, that volunteers
have brought into the museum, some of these are of important tennis matches
and are ones that the coaches here are the academy would like to be able to
show their students to discuss different techniques and developments in
tennis.  I know that these legally shouldn't exist - is there anyway I can
let the coaches use them, or better yet, be able to show them in the museum?

Thanks for your help,

Bronwyn Alcorn
Manager
Australian Tennis Museum
ph 02 9024 7607
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