The latest events in American copyright.
Help & Resources for Faculty, Staff & Students.
Theses & Dissertation Guide
If you need help formatting, submitting or preparing your Thesis or Dissertation please contact Devin Savage @ dsavage@iit.edu.
Often the easiest way to avoid potential problems with copyright altogether is for Faculty to provide a link to the resource, rather than providing a copy of the resource itself. If possible, the library encourages Faculty members to follow our guide for creating persistent URLs.
As an alternative to using copyrighted works the library encourages Faculty, Students and Staff to use publicly available works that are licensed through the Creative Commons. For help searching images and using Creative Commons licenses please contact library@iit.edu.
Seeking Permission from the Copyright Owner
Sometimes there is no alternative but to try and contact the copyright owner for permission to use their copyrighted work. In those cases often the simplest method is to contact the copyright owner directly to ask for permission. However, in cases where the copyright owner is unknown or unresponsive the library recommends that users seek permission through the Copyright Clearance Center, which will ensure that permission is granted for a fee. For help using the Copyright Clearance Center please contact library@iit.edu.
The library strongly encourages faculty, students and staff to pursue openly available alternatives to copyrighted works. The University of Minnesota Library has compiled a list of resources to facilitate faculty member’s access to Open Textbooks in order to avoid problems with copyright, as well as reduce the cost burden on students. If faculty need any help locating and accessing an Open Educational Resource, such as a textbook they should contact library@iit.edu.
Some copyrighted works are old enough that they have fallen into the Public Domain, and IIT faculty, students and staff are able to freely use and reuse them as they wish. In general, if a work was published before 1923 it is in the Public Domain. However, much more recent works could also be in the Public Domain, and therefore open for public use. The copyright office at Cornell University has created a useful guide to deciphering whether or not a work is in the Public Domain. If you need help finding out whether or not a work is in the public domain please contact library@iit.edu.
