In my course on copyright and digital content for the University of Denver, I made sure to emphasize the difference between Anglo-Saxon and continental understandings of copyright.  Because their intellectual foundations are so different, the Anglo-saxon tradition creates a lot more freedom and opportunity for libraries fortunate to exist in a country with that legal tradition.
On the other hand I did my best to point out the practical implications of the global shift towards a continental view of copyright and how negatively it would affect US libraries.  This story from Belgium about a rights group demanding royalties from children's reading hour is a perfect illustration of how devastating the shift to continental copyright standards could be for us.  250 euros is not much, but in the broader context of Hollywood's push to license all digital content in this manner (as well as the agency model in ebook sales) it is eerily prescient.

Librarians in the US need to start thinking seriously about how they can ensure the survival of Fair Use and the critical component of First Sale- before its too late.