Guides: Finding Open Access Images: Information

Contents of this Guide

General Resources - Links to sites which may have a mixture of public domain, creative commons licensing, or other restrictions.

Public Domain Images - All images on this page are considered to be in the public domain, either because their copyright expired (and was not renewed) or because the author specifically released his/her images to the public domain. Anything lawfully published in the United States before 1925 is also considered public domain.

Creative Commons - Guide to the types of creative commons licensing and links to sites which will allow you to specifically search for images with these licenses.

Governmental Sites - Most of the information on these governmental sites is considered to be public information/public domain, but there may be specific restrictions to use. These sites may also ask or require that you credit the source.

Images at Penn - Browse collections from the University of Pennsylvania. Images found in these databases may be subject to restrictions but may generally be used for educational purposes by Penn students, faculty, and staff.

Things to Keep in Mind

Even if images are in the public domain, there may be a few restrictions to their use. Here are some common restrictions to keep in mind:

You cannot claim or copyright a public domain image as your own;
Images cannot be used in a pornographic, defamatory, offensive, or unlawful manner;
You cannot use images in a way which could imply that the source/author takes a specific position on or endorsement of a topic, product, service, or activity;
Images generally may not be used as a trademark or logo;
AND it is always nice to attribute your source and/or link back to the site even when not required.

If you want to know more about a site's specific restrictions, look for variations of "Terms of Use" or "Licensing" links at the bottom of the site's page.

Information on Copyright Laws

For more information on Copyright, refer to the Copyright Resources to Support Publishing and Teaching guide.

Top 10 Urban Copyright Myths
For more information about how copyright works and how you can use it.
U.S. Copyright Law Guidance
A quick guide to the basics of copyright and its use from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the U.S. Copyright Law Office.
Fair Use
You may potentially use copyrighted material under "fair use" for a few specific purposes, but it can be tricky to determine whether or not usage falls under fair use. This link to the U.S. copyright office outlines fair use guidelines. Tread carefully.
Fair Use Checklist
This fair use checklist, developed by Kenneth D. Crews (Columbia University) and Dwayne K. Buttler (University of Louisville), may give you a better idea as to whether or not your use of copyrighted material falls under fair use or not.

Public Domain

Public domain images have no restrictions to use, as in you may alter, change, redistribute, adapt, etc. the image for private or commercial use. A work published before 1923. Below are a few examples of other ways an image may become part of the public domain.

Sometimes, a person dedicates his/her work to the public domain:

Other times, the image may have originally had copyright, but once that copyright expired (i.e., it was never renewed, a certain number of years have passed after the author died, etc.), the image became part of the public domain:

*NOTE: NO ATTRIBUTION REQUIRED FOR WORKS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN*

Images in the public domain may also be used to create derivative works. One common example is Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q., which is a derivative work of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa: