The following resources provide an overview of copyright and its exceptions. If you are uncertain about the copyright status of an image that you'd like to make public, or about how to go about securing the rights to reproduce an image, please contact a research librarian. We are happy to help.
Many digital collections and library databases provide access to images in the public domain (in addition to images with specific licensing requirements). Images in the public domain are not protected by copyright, trademark, or patent. They are owned by the public and are free to use. Works with expired copyrights, works created by the U.S government, and things not generally protected by copyright (for example, facts, theories, and idioms that have no specific authorship) all fall in the public domain.
