CODE OF BEST PRACTICES IN FAIR USE FOR ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES
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themes and ideas that can be quite different from those of the single work. Curation,
in-line commentary, and juxtaposition add to the transformative nature of exhibits,
displays, and other illustrative uses.
PRINCIPLE:
It is fair use for a library to use appropriate selections from collection materials to
increase public awareness and engagement with these collections and to promote
new scholarship drawing on them.
LIMITATIONS:
• Full attribution, in a form satisfactory to scholars in the field, should be
provided for each work included or excerpted in an exhibit, to the extent it can
be determined with reasonable effort.
• The amount of any particular work used and the format in which it is displayed
should be appropriate to the illustrative purpose, i.e., tailored to support the
goals of the exhibit or other illustrative project. The use of a work (other than
a single image) in its entirety is likely to require a special level of justification.
Similarly, larger-scale, high-resolution images should be displayed only when
appropriate to the pedagogical or illustrative purpose of the exhibit.
• This principle does not apply to the sale of souvenirs and other nonprint
merchandise in connection with an exhibit.
ENHANCEMENTS:
• For publications such as catalogs of exhibitions, the case for fair use will be
stronger when the material is offered to the public without charge, or on a cost-
recovery basis.
• Where library websites are concerned, fair use claims will be enhanced when
libraries take technological steps, reasonable in light of both the nature of the
material and of institutional capabilities, to discourage downloading.
• Fair use claims will be further enhanced when libraries provide copyright owners
a simple tool for registering objections to use of copyrighted works, such as an
e-mail address associated with a full-time employee.
16
themes and ideas that can be quite different from those of the single work. Curation,
in-line commentary, and juxtaposition add to the transformative nature of exhibits,
displays, and other illustrative uses.
PRINCIPLE:
It is fair use for a library to use appropriate selections from collection materials to
increase public awareness and engagement with these collections and to promote
new scholarship drawing on them.
LIMITATIONS:
• Full attribution, in a form satisfactory to scholars in the field, should be
provided for each work included or excerpted in an exhibit, to the extent it can
be determined with reasonable effort.
• The amount of any particular work used and the format in which it is displayed
should be appropriate to the illustrative purpose, i.e., tailored to support the
goals of the exhibit or other illustrative project. The use of a work (other than
a single image) in its entirety is likely to require a special level of justification.
Similarly, larger-scale, high-resolution images should be displayed only when
appropriate to the pedagogical or illustrative purpose of the exhibit.
• This principle does not apply to the sale of souvenirs and other nonprint
merchandise in connection with an exhibit.
ENHANCEMENTS:
• For publications such as catalogs of exhibitions, the case for fair use will be
stronger when the material is offered to the public without charge, or on a cost-
recovery basis.
• Where library websites are concerned, fair use claims will be enhanced when
libraries take technological steps, reasonable in light of both the nature of the
material and of institutional capabilities, to discourage downloading.
• Fair use claims will be further enhanced when libraries provide copyright owners
a simple tool for registering objections to use of copyrighted works, such as an
e-mail address associated with a full-time employee.
