Welcome to the Library's Copyright and Licencing pages
What is copyright?
Copyright exists to protect the rights of the person(s) who has created a work and ensures they receive due recognition for their contribution. As a property right it gives the copyright holder control over how their work is used, distributed and adapted. It is part of a group of rights which protect intellectual property whilst at the same time encouraging creativity in the creation of new material
Types of work protected:
- Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work, including illustration and photography
- Original non-literary written work, such as software, web content and databases
- Sound and music recordings
- Film and television recordings
- Broadcasts
- The layout of published editions of written, dramatic and musical works
This video provides a short introduction to copyright
Copyright & Licencing
Using copyright material
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When planning to use material that is or may be copyrighted, consider the following questions:
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Where are you using the material? A web page? In the VLE? Some printed publicity material? Material that is freely available online has a higher risk of being identified as infringing copyright.
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Can you acceptably substitute another resource that doesn't have copyright restrictions?
How to copy legitimately:
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Own the work
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Buy or operate under a licence
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Use an exception in UK law
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Seek permission from the rights owner
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Use a work that you are free to use without requesting permission, e.g. a work licenced by Creative Commons, such as CC-BY. For more information on what these licences do, you can visit the Creative Commons Website
Libraries and librarians deal with copyright protected material and content every day. It can seem complicated and scary, but it’s not. These pages are intended as a guide to basic copyright and licencing. Whilst we have endeavoured to ensure the accuracy of these guidelines, they should not be interpreted as legal advice