Our online world has made finding information and media easier than ever, but knowing what can be done with that material, legally, isn’t always clear. U.S. Copyright law and international trade agreements mean that most of the material you may find online is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Some databases and collections have been clearly marking the status of materials hosted on their platforms. For instance, Flickr users can clearly post their ownership of materials or apply a license to allow others to use the material. Like Flickr, many platforms help their users to place Creative Commons licenses on their content. These licenses clearly communicate what the author or rights holder allows users to do with their pictures, videos, or text without needing to ask for permissions.
The material in the USF Libraries Digital Collections is not all made by us; we can only place Creative Commons licenses on materials with the partnership and permission of the authors. However, we can make sure that the rights statements of every item in our collection is clearly indicated, so you know how you can use the materials. Last year the USF Libraries Digital Scholarship Services department began a project to completely update our rights statements with clearer, more standardized, statements based on RightsStatements.org.
While exploring and using our digital collections, the “Rights and Access” information bar will tell you the copyright status of the material. If it is “protected by copyright” and you want to know how you should request permissions or make a fair use, or if you have any questions about what the rights statement means, feel free to contact your copyright librarian or check out our copyright web pages for more information.