Chapter 20 of a book on school law provides guidelines for school access to copyrighted materials. The 1976 copyright law, which became effective January 1, 1978, abolished common law copyright and established a single federal system. Certain sections of the law under the judicial doctrine of fair use are subject to exceptions that are of benefit to educators. To help solve some of the ambiguities in the language of the law, several agreements, summarized in this article, were formed between copyright owners and educational users for minimum guaranteed use. The agreement for classroom copying of books and periodicals in nonprofit educational institutions permits single copying for teachers and multiple copying for classroom use, with conditions, definitions, and prohibitions explained. Permissible uses and prohibitions are also given for educational uses of music. One area has not been resolved: off-the-air taping of television programs for educational use in nonprofit educational institutions. The reasons for this conflict and the current state of litigation are summarized. (Author/MLF)