Copyright, Fair Use, & Intellectual Property

All individual institutional users of resources for teaching, learning, research, and administrative purposes are responsible for obtaining or arranging to obtain permissions for copyrighted works. If permission is denied, or otherwise cannot be obtained within the desired timeframe, alternate material must be sought.

Whenever possible, individuals should use the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), a centralized service for requesting permissions and paying royalties. For complete information about CCC services,  consult the CCC website.

For items not listed with the CCC, individuals should contact the publisher or copyright holder directly. Many publishers now grant permissions via email, or through their website, etc. For assistance in identifying and locating publishers, search using Google or contact copyright@guilford.edu for consultation with the College’s Copyright Compliance Officer. 

Repeated Use:

How often a work is used is NOT part of the copyright law, though some publishers believe you should seek permission or pay a royalty fee for repeated use of copyrighted works.  A safe practice is to seek permission for repeated use, especially if the use is over several years, but it is NOT stipulated by the copyright law.

• Copyright Clearance Center

  You can license many copyrighted materials by paying royalties through this licensing agency. Search for the work you want to license by publication title or ISBN/ISSN.

• Swank Digital Campus

           If you need a screening license for a film you may be able to purchase one directly from Swank

Columbia University Libraries Permissions and Licensing 

Duke University ScholarWorks Scholarly Communications Toolkit