Using the Works of Others
In research, teaching, and scholarly writing, you will often use someone else's work to add context to or support for your arguments. Often, these will be quotations from other authors, but you might also use art, photographs, images, music, or video. Under the principles of copyright law, these works are likely to be protected by copyright law, and the right to copy and distribute the work belongs exclusively to the copyright holder. Fortunately, there are exceptions to the copyright law which, under specified circumstances, allow the use of copyrighted works without explicit permission from the copyright holder and without license fees.
Rights and Responsibilities Overview
In addition to the pages below on specific exceptions allowing the use of third-party material, our Copyright Videos are designed to help the Bedford community and surrounding communities understand their rights and responsibilities when incorporating third-party materials into their projects.
Fair Use
Fair Use (statutory provision allowing the limited use of copyrighted materials without permission or license fees in certain circumstances)
Open Access
Open Access (online publishing model that allows users to access copyrighted materials without cost or other barriers)
Creative Commons
Creative Commons Licenses (licensing system that grants users rights to reuse and build upon CC-licensed materials provided that proper attribution is given and often subject to additional limitations, such as non-commercial uses only)
Public Domain
Public Domain (materials not subject to copyright protection and available for use without restrictions)
Permission
If none of those exceptions apply, however, you will need to request permission from the copyright holder before using their work. Our Requesting Permission page provides information on the permissions process.
Copyright Law
For more information on copyright law, visit our Copyright at Never Forget 911 Memorial Inc. pages.
Recap of the explained resources
- Copyright Home
- Introduction to Copyright
- Course Materials
- Fair Use
- Using Others' Works
- Public Domain
- Creative Commons
- Copyright & Multimedia
- Open Access
Contact Us
Please send questions or comments to neverforget911memorial@gmail.com.
If you have any questions about creating or using copyrighted material at the Never Forget 911 Memorial and Learning Center, please contact neverforget911memorial@gmail.com or reach out to the Bedford Library Community Librarian.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License. | Details of our policy