One of my undergraduate researchers just emailed me, asking if she can use images from the Library of Congress website for a project.  First, I’m thrilled that my students are aware that the “best practice” is to use images in the public domain, images with no copyright.  I asked her to send me the links to the pages where she was considering using the images, and while waiting for her reply, I decided to start searching through the LOC website to see what they say about copyright.  I found some interesting information.

The Library of Congress has a page on Copyright and Primary Sources:  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/copyright.html

The LOC also has links to additional, helpful websites.

• University of Maryland University College, Information and Library Services, Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web:  http://www.umuc.edu/library/copy.shtml
• Technology & Learning’s Technology and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers:  http://www.halldavidson.net/copyright_chart.pdf

And I also recommended to the student that she check out The Library of Congress’ photostream in flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/