The digital collections of the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press include items held by Special Collections and University Museums. The UD Library, Museums and Press have made these collections available to support research, teaching, and scholarship. These collections reside in UDSpace and/or Artstor, and were digitized by the Library, Museums and Press, and the information below does not apply to items included in databases that the Library subscribes to from external providers. Those subscription-based databases have their own copyright terms.
The copyright status of the items in these collections generally falls under four categories (see below). Whenever possible, we attempt to identify the copyright status of the item in the descriptive information at either an item or collection level. However, there may be cases where there is no rights information recorded for an item or a collection. In all cases, as the user, you have the final obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when using items found in our digital collections.
Public Domain
If an item is in the public domain, you may use this work as you wish without requesting permission for its use. The University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press asks that you provide attribution to our institution as you are able. For example, Courtesy of the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, Newark, Delaware. See the Special Collections guidance on citations for more information.
Under Copyright
If a work is under copyright, it is your obligation to determine whether your intended use of an item falls under fair use or other provisions of copyright law or whether you need to seek further permission for a specific use. We encourage you to become familiar with what might be possible under the fair use provisions of copyright law. See the research guide for copyright for a useful tool and set of resources.
In some cases, an item may be in copyright, but the copyright holder has explicitly granted permissions for use (whether broadly, or in certain contexts, such as education or other non-profit contexts) either through a Creative Commons License or through a statement on the work itself.
Under Copyright, Orphan Work
Additionally, an item may be protected under copyright, but after due diligence it may be determined that the copyright holder is unidentifiable or unlocatable. In such instances, we will update the rights status if more information about the copyright holder becomes available. You will need to make a decision about whether or not your intended use would be considered a fair use or an infringement.
Copyright Status Unknown or Undetermined
For some items it is not possible to determine the copyright status because we do not have clear provenance or information about publication/creation dates. In other cases, we may suspect that the item is in the public domain, but cannot make a full determination. It is your obligation to determine how to proceed in regards to use of an item (i.e. to proceed as if the item is under copyright or not).
Information for Potential Rights Holders
If you are a copyright owner or hold more information about items in the digital collection that might clarify rights issues, please contact lib-digicoll@udel.edu. Upon request, we will remove items from public view if there is a rights issue to be resolved.
If an item is in the public domain, you may use this work as you wish without requesting permission for its use. The University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press asks that you provide attribution to our institution as you are able. For example, Courtesy of the University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press, Newark, Delaware. See the Special Collections guidance on citations for more information.