Learning Guides: Copyright and Fair Use: Images and Copyright

Get in Touch

Ask a Librarian

Available Mon - Thurs
10am - 6pm
Friday
10am - 2pm

Try Our FAQs

Learning Commons Quick Links

Tutoring - Writing, math and more

Learning Guides - Quick learning

Hours - Find out when we're open

Library Search - Find materials

Databases - Articles and more!

InterLibrary Loan - Request books

Books - Recommended books

eBooks - Thousands of free eBooks

Streaming Video - Learn by watching

Use the Library Search to find books, eBooks, articles, and more!

Follow Us!

You can find Learning Commons information, book recommendations and so much more on JCTC's social media.

What about Images posted online?

Before using an image found online, assume that it is copyrighted. It may be difficult to figure out who owns the copyright, but if you didn't create the image, someone else did and it is likely that they own the rights to reproduce that image. Rather than copying the image to your course, consider whether linking to it would be a better option (linking rather than copying removes questions about copyright because you are not copying the image). If you start with the assumption that everything published online is protected by copyright, you'll have better luck avoiding copyright violations.

Find Images that Can Be Used Without Permission

Creative Commons
Creative Commons offers flexible licensing to producers. Search for items with licensing that match your use. See below for information on different licenses.
Creative Commons Licenses
Read carefully to understand the various licenses offered by Creative Commons.
NY Public Library Public Domain images
More than 180,000 of the items in the NYPL Digital Collections are in the public domain. Use these images freely.
Library of Congrss Digital Collections
Over 1 million images in the Library of Congress Digital Collections.

Copyright and Fair Use

MIT Guide to using Images

Isn't it Fair Use if it's for my Class?

Fair Use Explained
Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.