Finding Image and Media Sources
Images and media are available from a variety of sources, including sources outside of the School of Medicine. Images and videos require the same copyright, fair use, public domain, and Creative Commons considerations as books and articles. Images and videos also require citation of the created work to avoid plagiarism.
Openly available images and more
UW Medicine Marketing Image Collections
UW Medicine faculty and staff can use images from Marketing’s image collections if they follow use guidelines. Note: You will need to register to use the Photo Library site.
- UW Medicine Photography Use and Collections
- UW Medicine Digital Photo Library
- Contact Ceradwen Tokheim for searching for image resources
Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain, and Creative Commons
There may or may not be limitations on redistribution and/or modification of a resource based on copyright, the doctrine of fair use, public domain, and Creative Commons Licenses considerations. These topics are briefly described below.
Copyright
When a resource is protected under copyright, the owner of the resource has exclusive rights to it. These rights include making and/or distributing copies and derivatives of the resource, and more. There are limitations to these exclusive rights, including fair use.
Doctrine of Fair Use
Fair use is a flexible doctrine that allows others to use copyright-protected resources in some circumstances. In a fair use analysis, four factors are examined: the purpose of the use, the nature of the original work, the amount or substantiality of the portion used, and the effect of the use on the market for the original work. Given that fair use is context specific, and each factor is weighed in any fair use evaluation, UW Libraries recommends you familiarize yourself with this doctrine of law. (Further details on four factors below)
Purpose: How are you using the resource? (For profit vs nonprofit educational purposes)
Nature: What is the nature of the resource that you are using? (Commercially available vs not; creative vs factual)
Amount or Substantiality: How much of the resource are you using? (Analysis includes quantity, quality, type of work, and more)
Market: How will your use of the resource affect the profit of the rightsholder? (Perhaps the most complicated factor to evaluate)
- Introduction to Fair Use
- Harvard Guide to Fair Use
- Columbia University Libraries Fair Use Evaluation Checklist
Public Domain
When a resource is in the public domain, it is not protected by copyright. It can be used freely by all. Resources usually enter the public domain because the copyright expired. A related but different (and helpful) thing is that some resources are never protected by copyright. For example, facts and works by the U.S. federal government are never protected by copyright. Additionally, the rightsholder of the created resource can allow for non-exclusive use of the created resource and can further place a Creative Commons license on the created resource.
Creative Commons License
A Creative Commons license defines how the rightsholder of a resource allows for the resource to be used and/or modified in the future. These also include how the rightsholder is cited.
Further Help
Identifying how to effectively incorporate course content into a Pressbook can be complex. Librarians are here to help simplify the process for you. Please do not hesitate to contact us:
Contact Medicine Librarian, Anna Liss Jacobsen, and Health Sciences Librarians with questions about Medical and Health Sciences Resources
Contact Copyright Librarian, Maryam Fakouri, and Scholarly Communications Librarians with questions about Copyright, Fair Use, and more
Contact Open Education Librarian, Lauren Ray, with questions about Pressbooks, Open Educational Resources, and more
Contact SOMALT somalt@uw.edu