LibGuides: Fair Use: Fair Use Best Practices

About Best Practices

When it comes to fair use, best practices and recommendations are created by communities of practice to provide lower-risk uses of copyrighted work. They are provided to help people in various fields evaluate and consider fair use for their particular needs. Keep in mind that best practices do not override or substitute for copyright law.

Collections of Fair Use Best Practices

Best Practices in Fair Use (American University)
The AU Washington College of Law creates and publishes many fair use best practices for various disciplines. See their site for current reports and information.
Codes of Best Practices (Center for Media and Social Impact)
CMSI at American University produces many reports, best practices and events on the use of information in many creative and scholarly fields. This page provides a list, ranging from fair use in poetry to software preservation.

Teaching and Research

Image Source: Textbook and eye glasses, by DariuszSankowski. https://pixabay.com/photos/knowledge-book-library-glasses-1052010/. Permission by Pixabay.com license.

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for OER (CMSI)
The 2021 version of CMSI's fair use best practices for OER.
Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research, and Study (Visual Resources Association)
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video (Center for Media & Social Impact)

Journalism

Media Studies and Education

Creative Works

Image credit: Recording studio, by Caught in Joy. https://unsplash.com/photos/ptVBlniJi50. Permission by Unsplash.com license.

What is fair use? (YouTube)
YouTube gives great examples of samples items that follow fair use. Read about where fair use can and cannot apply!

Art and Visual Works

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts
Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video (Center for Media & Social Impact)
Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use (CMSi)
This page, by Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), also provides background information and examples of fair use applied successfully.
Guidelines for the Use of Copyrighted Materials and Works of Art by Art Museums (Association of Art Museum Directors)
Since museums use works protected by copyright for the benefit of the public, the Association of Art Museum Directors composed some better practices and guidelines for these uses.

Music

Writing

Fair Use for Authors (Authors Alliance)
See also Author Alliance's Fair Use FAQs and their current posts on fair use.
Fair use for Nonfiction Authors (Author Alliance)

Last updated on Feb 15, 2023 1:21 PM