What's in an Image: Research in Images, Photo Archives, Physical Library Art Books, and More

Although you can find images freely available everywhere on the web, most of these are protected by copyright and can only be used with the copyright holder's permission. Copyright protects an author's right to benefit commercially from their original work and creative ideas and control how their work is used. Even sites that say "free" mean you can use them under certain conditions, be careful to read rights statements and follow directions about how to ethically use an image.

Sometimes, especially for educational purposes, use of an image may be covered by Fair Use. People can use portions of copyrighted materials in some circumstances-- often for comment, criticism or parody--freely and without permission of the copyright holder. Using an image in the following ways can strengthen your case for fair use, but keep in mind that this is judged on an individual basis:

• image is not to be used for commercial purposes. Personal and/or educational use is usually permitted.
• image is not to be redistributed, sold, added to an image collection or published in tangible medium.
• image must not constitute a substantial portion of the content in which it is used.

Images in the public domain are not protected by copyright and may be freely used. Examples include: works from before 1925, federal government works, works released from copyright. See this chart for more info on copyright expiration dates.

Creative Commons licenses allow creators to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works; ensure proper attribution; and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of their works. Images in the "creative commons," are available to use freely, under certain stated conditions.