Are You Being Fair with Fair Use?


Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons are big things in higher education.  Protect yourself and your hard work.  Know the basics and use the following information and checklist to make sure you really are being fair.

Fair Use Checklist PDF Link

Public Domain and Creative Commons Resources

By: Imelda Vetter, Reference Librarian for Education

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Public Domain Resources:

• Open Clip Art Library - an archive of clip art, whose contributors have waived all rights, including copyright. http://www.openclipart.org/
• Wikimedia Commons - a media file repository containing public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips). The licensed materials are free to use but you must follow the conditions specified by the author. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki
• FedFlix - movies from the U.S. government. http://www.archive.org/details/FedFlix
• – photos and images, some which are in the public domain and others which are protected by copyright. Make sure to read the disclaimer for each image. http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml
• - Free and open access to “written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience,” its history and creativity. These resources come from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions. Some, but not all, of the resources are in the public domain; each item’s copyright status is clearly indicated. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
• Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) - this collection include photographs, prints, drawings, and posters which document the history of the United States and the lives of the American people. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Image Library (PHIL) - http://phil.cdc.gov/phil. Regulations - http://www.cdc.gov/Other/imagereuse.html
• Public Domain Images – copyright free photos. http://public-domain-image.com/
• Public Domain Information Project. Public Domain Music and Royalty Free Music – this collection has sheet music and a list of songs that are in the public domain. Also included on this site is Royalty Free music; royalty free music is not necessarily without a monetary cost. http://www.pdinfo.com
• Musopen - this website provides public domain recordings and sheet music for free. http://www.musopen.org/
• LibriVox: Acoustical Liberation of Books in the Public Domain - a depository of recordings of public domain books and book chapters. All these recordings are in the public domain. http://librivox.org/
• Project Gutenberg – Digital copies of public domain books - http://www.gutenberg.org

Creative Commons:

• Creative Commons provides free licenses to the creators of works in which the creators determine the allowable uses of their work. Use the website’s search engine to find creative commons works: http://labs.creativecommons.org/demos/search/?q=
• Creative Commons Content Directories - maintains a list of organizations and projects using Creative Commons Licenses. http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Content_Curators
• Internet Archive, Audio Archive – includes spoken word and music audio. Read the creative commons license for each audio file. http://www.archive.org/details/opensource_audio
• Internet Archive, Moving Image Archive – includes movies, films, and videos, ranges from full-length films, to news broadcasts, to cartoon and concerts. Each item is subject to a creative commons license. http://www.archive.org/details/movies
• New Media Rights – Has guides to help you find public domain and creative commons material. http://www.newmediarights.org/.

Web guides – Finding guides to public domain and copyright free image media sources: (You can find other ones on the web, as well. Do an Advanced Search in Google on “public domain images,” or “public domain video,” etc., and limit to the .edu domain.)

• http://people.uwec.edu/koroghcm/public_domain.htm
• http://opg.cias.rit.edu/library/public-domain-resources
• http://libstaging.lib.uni.edu/library-instruction/research-tips/images-you-can-use
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_image_resources

Youtube copyright tips - http://www.youtube.com/t/howto_copyright

“How To Make Sure Your Video Does Not Infringe Someone Else's Copyrights

The way to ensure that your video doesn't infringe someone else's copyright is to use your skills and imagination to create something completely original. It could be as simple as taping some of your friends goofing around, and as complicated as filming your own short movie with a script, actors, and the whole works. If it's all yours, you never have to worry about the copyright—you own it! Make sure to follow the other guidelines in the terms of use, too.

Be sure that all components of your video are your original creation—even the audio portion. For example, if you use an audio track of a sound recording owned by a record label without that record label's permission, your video may be infringing the copyrights of others, and may be subject to removal.YouTube offers a library of authorized music to liven up your video. Try AudioSwap now!” 

Books:

• Fishman, S. (2006). Public domain: How to find & use copyright-free writings, music, art & more. Berkeley, CA: Nolo.
• Photopreneur (Eds.). (2010). Amazing public domain images sourcebook. New York, NY: New Media Entertainment.