Organizations
Basic information about copyright and University of California policies for the UC community from the UC Office of the President.
United States Copyright Office
The U.S. Copyright Office offers a wealth of information, resources, and services, including the full text of laws, copyright registration, tutorials, records searches, policy studies, and publications.
Use CC licenses to give the public permission to use your work. This is also a good place to begin your search for online materials that are free to use without requesting permission.
Blogs
Copyright experts write about copyright and fair use issues related to libraries and scholarly publishing.
Tools
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
An accessible resource to help determine whether a work is in the public domain, sometimes referred to as “out of copyright.”
The checklist is a tool to help you determine whether your proposed use of a copyrighted work constitutes fair use.
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use
The Association of Research Libraries offers essential guidelines for how fair use can be exercised in academic and research libraries.
Fair use in a day in the life of a college student
This infographic shows how college students often use fair use in daily activities.
Obtaining Permissions, step by step
UC Copyright’s guide to obtaining permission to use copyrighted work and sample permission letters.
The Basics of Getting Permission
Stanford University Libraries’ Copyright & Fair Use guide to determining whether permission is needed and some FAQs about obtaining permission.
University of Texas TEACH Act Checklist
Use this checklist to see if you can use the TEACH Act.
Related UCSB Library Resources
UCSB Library Scholarly Communication
Information for faculty and graduate students about the changes that are occurring in scholarly publishing, including information on open access publishing and managing intellectual property.
