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Copyright Basics: Copyright & Fair Use

This guide does not substitute for official legal advice or give exhaustive coverage of fair use guidelines.

Fair Use

COPYRIGHT RESOURCES

MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: Medical Library Association Copyright Positions and FAQs. 

UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT OFFICE:  Information circulars and factsheets.

COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE CENTER: On Copyright Education, videos. Largest licenser of text reproduction rights in the world, formed in 1978 to facilitate compliance with US copyright law. 

FAIR USE

Fair use is one of the limitations on the exclusive rights of the copyright holder as specified in Section 107 of the Copyright Law. Fair use is the provision within the law that allows use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship and research. Fair use relates to the purpose for which the individual is requesting the material. Section 107 lists four factors in determining whether the use made of a work is a fair use. For further information:

 

The Copyright Site: Fair Use Simply Explained

 

Stanford Fair Use & Copyright: Stanford University Libraries' website on fair use and copyright for academic and educational settings.

 

Columbia University Copyright Advisory Office: University Libraries and Information Services

 

Center For Social Media, American University: Challenges in Employing Fair Use in Academic and Research Libraries

 

University of Texas Libraries: The Copyright Crash Course, by Georgia K. Harper