University of Arizona Libraries copyright policy

Our web pages provide public access to a wide range of materials, including online exhibits, digital text collections, images, and archives. Enabling open access to our materials and resources goes hand in hand with the University of Arizona Libraries’ commitment to sharing knowledge.

This policy refers to web content created by University of Arizona Libraries employees, not to third-party databases or other licensed content (such as online journals, newspapers, ebooks, etc.). 

Copyright

An essential part of our mission is to make information and resources available for educational and scholarly purposes consistent with copyright law.

We evaluate copyright before making collections material available online. When possible, we provide rights information to accompany collections or items.

However, we do not guarantee the accuracy of that information. It is the user’s obligation to evaluate rights issues in light of their own use. The University of Arizona Libraries make no express or implied warranty to others who wish to use the content on our web pages.

Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by copyright exceptions such as fair use, or by specific agreement, requires the permission of the copyright owner.

Creative Commons

We apply Creative Commons licenses to our content when possible. Our web pages provide access to a variety of materials, and copyright or licensing restrictions may vary.

Many of the University of Arizona Libraries web pages are labeled and available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY). When a University of Arizona Libraries page is labeled as “CC BY,” the license applies to textual content written by University of Arizona Libraries employees as part of their employment, where the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona hold the copyright, as described more fully below.

Terms and attribution

The CC BY license allows anyone to share and adapt the licensed content as long as they give credit for the original creation and follow the license terms. Attribution, which is mandatory, should be given to "University of Arizona Libraries, © [YEAR] The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License."

What’s included under the CC BY license?

Any textual content that is written by University of Arizona Libraries staff as part of their employment, where the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona hold the copyright, and that appears on a University of Arizona Libraries web page that displays the CC BY icon, is included.

Unless otherwise indicated on the web page, you may assume that textual content written by University of Arizona Libraries employees was written as part of their employment and that the copyright is held by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.

What’s not included under the CC BY license?

The following material appearing on a University of Arizona Libraries web page displaying the CC BY icon is not included:

  • Any quotations from text written by someone other than a University of Arizona Libraries employee 
  • Any University of Arizona or University of Arizona Libraries logo, and any University of Arizona or University of Arizona Libraries name used as a trademark
  • Articles, letters, books, and other works of authorship that are part of our collections or licensed resources
  • Any other textual content that it is evident was not written by a University of Arizona Libraries employee 
  • Photographs, images, sound recordings, audiovisual works, software, and any other non-textual content, unless any such item of non-textual content bears its own CC BY icon. For example, images in our digital collections are excluded unless they separately bear the CC BY icon.
  • Any content that is linked to from a web page displaying the CC BY icon but is not set forth on that page
  • Any other content that is excluded from the CC BY license in the CC BY footer or elsewhere on the web page

Content on pages without a CC BY icon is not licensed under the CC BY license.

Use of University of Arizona Libraries name or logo

The users of any web page content may not suggest or imply that the University of Arizona Libraries endorse, approve of, or participate in their projects. The University of Arizona's name may not be used in the title or the name of any product or work, and may not be used as a metadata search term or as part of a website name or web address, or be large or prominent.

The use of the University of Arizona name for any purpose other than the standard source citation requires the prior approval of the University of Arizona Trademark and Licensing office. The use of University of Arizona logos, trademarked words, and images is not permitted without the permission of the University of Arizona Trademarks and Licensing office.

Copyright Take-down Request Policy

The UA Libraries makes digital versions of materials available for the purposes of education and scholarly use. These materials include content from our archival and special collections, scholarly output from the campus community, and hosted digital projects produced by partners external to the Libraries. Both the Libraries and our external partners make every effort to warrant that these digital materials do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of any person or entity. However, there are cases in which copyright status may be difficult or impossible to ascertain. If you would like to request removal of digital materials from UA Libraries’ digital exhibits, projects, or collections websites that you believe infringes on your copyright, you can submit a request to the UA Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Librarian. More information is available on our policy page.

More information

If you are unclear about the terms of use for the content you wish to use, please contact edubinsky@arizona.edu

Content on this page is adapted from the Harvard Library CC BY Copyright Policy Statement by Harvard Library, © 2018 President and Fellows of Harvard College, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.