Copyright for Libraries, Archives and Museums: Copyright resources and tools

Helps you determine whether or not a work is copyrightable in the first place. This covers some of the same information as the Public Domain Slider.

By Peter Hirtle. A handy chart for determining copyright status.

Determine whether or not something is in the public domain. Remember, for copyright, you don't need permission to use public domain materials. Citations are still important to avoid plagiarism, and you may also want to consider other issues such as cultural awareness before choosing to use content without permission.

Federal publications are generally in the public domain, but state publications vary from state to state. Katherine Zimmerman, Copyright Fellow at Harvard Library's Office for Scholarly Communication, has gathered the status of works from each state into this handy tool.

When used in conjunction with the US Copyright Office's Renewals Database, this database is tremendously helpful for determining whether or not works published 1923-1963 are still under copyright or have fallen into the public domain.

CMRS has a method for large-scale copyright status review for analyzing HathiTrust books, and share their lessons in this toolkit.

January 1st, another year's works join the public domain. Check out some resources from the newest year to join the public domain!

While you must do the hard work yourself, this tool helps guide you through the decision-making process and can provide tangible backup.

By Kenneth D. Crews and Dwayne K. Buttler, hosted by Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, Copyright Advisory Office.

From the US Copyright Office, indexes court opinions related to Fair Use.

Copyright law gives some exemptions specifically to libraries and archives. Use this tool to help determine if your material and proposed use qualifies.

Education is especially favored in copyright law, but that doesn't give classroom use carte blanche. This tool helps you determine your rights and responsibilities for using copyrighted work without permission.

By default, publications of state and local governments are under copyright, but some states either put their publications into the public domain or their law is unclear. Find out about the current status in all states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC.

"In order to qualify for safe harbor protection [under the DMCA], certain kinds of service providers—for example, those that allow users to post or store material on their systems, and search engines, directories, and other information location tools— must designate an agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement. To designate an agent, a service provider must do two things: (1) make certain contact information for the agent available to the public on its website; and (2) provide the same information to the Copyright Office, which maintains a centralized online directory of designated agent contact information for public use. The service provider must also ensure that this information is up to date."

Sandra Aya Enimil addresses how provisions of the US Copyright Law, including fair use, can and should be used to provide equitable access, or accessibility, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

On the Library of Congress blog, Copyright: Creativity at work. This post, from Feb. 22, 2021, is by Anandashankar Mazumdar.

Thanks to Paul Adasiak at the Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for sharing his sign, which incorporates information about Fair Use along with required text.

How and what to post where users may make unsupervised copies, from the US Code of Federal Regulations.

Catchy, fun, and incorporates information about Fair Use with required text.

Interestingly, copyright to Alaska's State Song, the Alaska Flag Song, is held by the University of Alaska Foundation. Find out how to license it!

Provided by the US Copyright Office.

An article by Steve Schlackman, posted 7/15/20 on the Art Law Journal website, talks about the potential costs of copyright infringement from a content creator's perspective (well, a content creator's lawyer's perspective).

The law on potential liability for copyright infringement, provided by the US Copyright Office.