Homework system where instructors can adapt and create customized homework questions; make questions open-ended or autograded; pick between assessment styles; and embed existing material from Canvas or other textbooks. Includes learning analytics.
Platform for creating interactive image and video-related activities for Canvas and OER textbooks. Insert image comparisons, image sequences, interactive videos, image hotspots, timelines, virtual tours, and more.
Search for media that is published under a CC license.
Content from the LC digital collections that is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
"Can I Use That Picture? Infographic Revised and Simplified!" by Curtis Newbold. Right-click and select "Open In New Tab" to zoom in.
Here is some information you can use to assess whether your use of copyright-protected material falls under the legal definition of "fair use". Please keep in mind that this guide was not compiled by a legal expert, and the Library cannot provide definitive copyright & fair use assessments. However, we can offer guidance and resources for more information, so we encourage you to use the tools and information below to make your own assessment.
You may use some copyright-protected works without permission under special circumstances.
These circumstances are described as "Fair Use" by U.S. Copyright Law:
"The fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."
Some factors will make your use case either more likely or less likely to qualify as "Fair Use":
More Likely Fair Use:
- Transformative, educational, or illustrative purposes
- Transformative use: "Use of a work is transformative when it is used for a purpose different than the purpose for which it was originally created."
- Educational use: "Using a work for educational purposes weighs in favor of fair use...using a cartoon as an example of an artistic technique you are teaching is an educational use. In contrast, using a cartoon for entertainment in a biology class is less likely to be an educational use."
- Illustrative use: "Using a work for any of the illustrative purposes, “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, [and] research,” weighs in favor of fair use."
- Using a factual work: "Use of a factual work is more likely to be fair. Facts themselves are not copyrightable."
- Use is the sort the rightsholder is unwilling to license: "Fair use is designed in part to enable criticism... art criticism that requires reproducing the art is often fair use."
Less Likely Fair Use:
- Commercial use: "Uses in university work are generally not commercial..."
- Bad faith: "Lying, cheating, or otherwise acting in bad faith in order to gain access to the work you use"
- Using work that is not yet published: "Congress amended the fair use statute to clarify that fair use can apply to unpublished materials, 'if such finding is made upon consideration of all the [fair use] factors.'
- Using a creative work: "The strength of copyright is greater for creative works at the core of copyright protection, such as novels, paintings, and songs."
- Using "the heart" of the work: "Using the “heart of the work” weighs against fair use." Note: "heart of the work" is loosely defined, but generally refers to the most important, distinguishing part of the work.
- Using more of the work: "In general, the more you use, the less likely your use is to be fair... [however] other factors and subfactors can outweigh this one... If the amount used is necessary to the transformative purpose of the use, this factor is neutralized."
