The College library offers a collection of DVDs that are available for loan by the College community.
The College library maintains a subscription to the MPLC umbrella license, and we have been doing so since 2018. The licence covers the public performance of all motion pictures and other programs intended for personal, private home use only, such as DVDs, in the manner, and at the location specified in the licence agreement between these parties. Only the DVDs owned by the College library are covered within the license, and the location specified is the Yale-NUS Campus.
However, there are a number of embargoed titles that are NOT covered by the license. It is part of our standard operating procedure to check with the MPLC for every time a request for the screening of a DVD at the Yale-NUS campus is made. This is to ensure that everything is in order and the College is not left vulnerable to copyright issues. As such, the College community is advised to let the library know of your plans to screen a DVD well in advance (10 working days) so that we have sufficient times to check with the MPLC and ensure that the licence applies to the material you plan to screen. We suggest the following steps:
- Visit the DVD collection at the College library to select a film to screen. If you have a specific film in mind and the library does not own a copy, then email library@yale-nus.edu.sg to request purchase. Reviewing, approval, ordering, receiving and processing of a DVD can take 4 weeks or more.
- 10 working days before the intended day of screening, please email library@yale-nus.edu.sg to let us know of your intent to screen the DVD, and request for a confirmation from MPLC that the DVD in question has not been embargoed.
- Check out the DVD and screen at your event.
If the screening is recreational in nature (that is, you do not have a specific DVD that you wish to screen) then it is a good idea to select up to three DVDs in Step 1, to ensure that at least one of the three does not fall in the embargo list and the process is streamlined.
Do email the library in case you have any questions, or need further clarifications.
