Copyright Compliance for Faculty and Staff: Getting Started

This Library Guide to copyright information provides practical information and guidance in handling the copyright issues confronting educators every day.

There are few if any reliable rules for educational uses of copyrighted material; the very nature of fair use precludes such precision.  Indeed, it only gets more difficult to make confident decisions about proper use of copyrighted material as media and technology continue to evolve. This Library Guide aims to pull together sources of information about copyright of interest to educators and give you the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the material presented.

The purpose of copyright law is to give protection, for a limited time, to authors of original works. Copyright law is also designed to promote science and the arts by facilitating the dissemination of knowledge.  It is a complex area and defies easy explanation.

The sites listed below contain background information and detailed overviews of copyright law. You will learn a lot about copyright by spending some time at any of these excellent sites: