Licenses serve as agreements between copyright holders and users, outlining how the copyrighted work can be used. Some licenses are pre-arranged, such as those for library resources or works marked with a Creative Commons license. In other cases, users must contact the copyright holder to initiate the licensing process. This negotiation will determine the permitted uses and any associated fees. If a specific use is not covered by the existing license, users can negotiate additional licenses, though the copyright holder may request further payment.
A license is not an exception to copyright. It is how a user gains access to works in situations not covered by exceptions.
The next sections include information on the key features of library licenses and Creative Commons licenses.
The library uses licenses to provide access to online databases and articles for college students, faculty and staff. Each license is negotiated separately and has different terms and conditions regarding permitted uses.
The library has summarized some of the most significant terms of these licenses using a program called CLEAR. You can view the summaries on Page 1+ when you open the full record of a journal or article and you click 'Show license' next to the database name.
When you investigate the two databases in the image above the terms of each license are not the same (see details in the image below), even though both of these databases provide access to the same resource. This is why the library has made the simple summaries of the licenses available, so you can evaluate whether your intended use is permitted by the license.
A Creative Commons (CC) license is a "premade" license which copyright holders can apply to their work. It is an easy way to voluntarily make all or parts of their work available without payment or additional permission.
You are more likely to see a CC license on electronic works. However, they can be placed on physical works as well. CC licenses can be applied by owners to open textbooks, articles, pictures, videos and more, and are indicated by a symbol (see image).
Each symbol describes the CC license applied to the work and its conditions for use. If you want to use the work for a situation outside of the terms of the CC license, you need to contact the copyright holder and arrange a separate license. The copyright holder may want payment for uses beyond what they established when they posted the work with a CC license.
For more information, see Creative Commons: When we share, everyone wins.
"Creative Commons Licenses Infographic" by ricardo56 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
