Of course not. It violates copyright laws and is illegal.
Not true
Music can be copied onto Music CD-R by virtue of a tax that pays royalties to artists. This is called Home Use. Computers can't be used to make such recordings legally because of digital millennium law. So theoretically, you could record a CD on a consumer recording device such as a cassette recorder, or a CD recorder, legally, then since that is a legal recording you could move it to a computer as a rip of your legal copy. It's not as clear what happens if you use the tax royalty paid recording media on a computer directly, which is possible. It's all because of the RIAA and the congress bowing down to the music industry. Of course, the napster lawsuits might have you wondering just how far RIAA can reach into your personal affairs.
It may depend on WHO is doing the solicitation. If it being conducted by the library itself as part of contribution effort to aid the library, it would be permissible. For anyone else to do it for any other reason, no. It is an offense (usually an ordnance violation, or misdemeanor) known as "Begging" or "Soliciting Alms."
In general, libraries are classified into four major categories: public (as in your local library, often funded by city/county/state), school media centers (the libraries that cater to students in K-12 schools), academic (libraries at public and private universities and institutions of higher learning), and special libraries (libraries that deal specifically with special items like legal or medical resources, or libraries that are part of institutions dedicated to the study of special subjects). Keep in mind, though, that these categories are fluid and can often overlap (for example, a law school's library may be considered both special and academic; a local historical society might also be both public in that members of the local community may be able to borrow books, and may even receive public funds, but might also be considered "special" due to a concentration of holdings on a specific topic). Also, many academic libraries have what is called a "Special Collections" section in which books and other media related to a specific topic are collected and cataloged for use by scholars and members of the public (although non-university supported persons may need special permission to use these resources as they are sometimes old, fragile, and in need of special upkeep or preservation). Hope this helps! Your local academic librarian.
No.
No. Not in public school at least.
Fairly obviously, it depends on the particular school library in question. I did find some statistics from the US Department of Education. In the most recent year I could find data for (2007-2008), the average elementary school library in the US had 2,316 books for every 100 students and the average secondary school library had 1,432 books for every 100 students (presumably the secondary school books tend to have more text per book).
Check them out of your public library. Those are free and legal.
Use your public library. Or buy a legal copy.
See if your public library bought the ebook. That is legal and does not cheat the author.
See if your public library bought sheet music. That is free and legal.
You can read them at your public library that bought them. Or buy a legal copy of your own.
First thing to think about is copyright. Is it legal for you to rip that DVD?
You can buy a legal copy or use the public library that does buy a legal copy.
If your public library bought the ebook rights, it is free and legal. Just put in your library card number.Any other site that has it for free, has a stolen copy.
The only legal location to acquire free e-books is through your local public library.
Mary Janice Davidson has ebooks on Fictionwise. She sells her books to earn a living. If your public library bought the ebook, then you can read it from your public library. That is legal. Any site offering it for free is stealing from the author.
See if your public library bought Hoot as an ebook. Then it is legal for you to read it. The book is copyrighted so any site that has not paid the author for the book is not legal.
There is no free and legal site to read it online. However your public library may have bought a digital copy. In this case, it would be legal because it was paid for.