CC BY - FAQs

FAQs

What about works created by persons outside of OSUL?

Does this mean OSUL doesn't have copyright anymore?

Does this mean I don't have copyright anymore?

Does this mean that I cannot continue to use my work in my other professional endeavors (e.g. conferences, publications)?

Does this mean I can't publish my material somewhere else?

I agree to the CC BY license in general but I have some content that I don't want to be included; what should I do?

Why Creative Commons?

What does “CC BY” mean?

CC BY stands for the “Creative Commons Attribution” license. The CC BY license enables others to share, reuse, and remix content so long as they credit the source of the original material and they indicate if changes have made.

What does the license apply to?

The Creative Commons license applies to materials on the OSUL website for which the Libraries own the copyright. This includes:

Content appearing on the Libraries’ website that was created by faculty and staff as part of their employment with OSUL (e.g. LibGuides)
Documents that may be linked to or hosted on the Libraries’ document registry (e.g. handouts)
Administrative, policy, and procedural documents accessible through the website

What is excluded from the license?

The Creative Commons license does NOT apply to materials for which the Libraries do not own the copyright. This includes:

Third party materials (e.g. the Libraries’ digital collections)
Traditional scholarly works by OSUL faculty (Note: Faculty must take action regarding materials for which they own the copyright)

The CC BY license also does NOT apply to:

Photographs that contain easily identifiable images of faculty, staff, or students
Proprietary software
Trademarks and logos

What about works created by persons outside of OSUL?

If your webpage(s) or blog(s) contain existing content from persons outside of OSUL you may either provide a statement identifying specific material that is not included in the CC BY license or you may contact each individual author and seek their permission to include their material in the license. Blogs owners with a large archive of guest posts by authors outside of OSUL may find it expedient to add language specifying a particular date after which material will be included in the CC BY license rather than labeling individual posts with an alternate rights statement.

When adding new material to your webpage(s) or blog(s) that is created by persons outside of OSUL, seek their permission to include the material in the CC BY license or add a statement that the work is not included in the CC BY license, such as “<Title of Work> by <Author> is not included in the OSU Libraries’ Website CC BY license. Please contact <Author> for rights and permissions regarding uses that may exceed fair use or other exceptions to the law.”

What works do I own the copyright to?

In general, the copyrightable works you create as part of your job duties at OSU are considered “works made for hire” under U.S. Copyright Law, and as such the copyright is owned by OSU as your employer. Some examples of typical works made for hire include: teaching materials, LibGuides, and policy or procedural documents.

OSUL employees are also subject to the OSU Policy on Patents and Copyrights. Under this policy, OSU does not claim a copyright in faculty members’ traditional scholarly work, such as publications and conference presentations. However, all materials created by staff and student employees as part of their job duties at OSU are considered works made for hire, and copyright for those works is owned by OSU.

You own the copyright if any of the following apply:

You are a faculty member AND the material is traditional scholarly work, e.g. publications, blog posts, exhibit materials.
You are a non-employee student (e.g. practicum student, intern)
You created the material outside of the scope of your employment, e.g. personal photography or artwork.

Does this mean OSUL doesn’t have copyright anymore?

Licensing material under a Creative Commons license does not forfeit copyright in the material. The license proactively grants permission for others to use the material under the terms specified by the license.

The copyright owner may continue to use the material and exercise his/her rights in the material, including granting permissions that are not already covered by the Creative Commons license.

Does this mean I don’t have copyright anymore?

Licensing material under a Creative Commons license does not forfeit copyright in the material. The license proactively grants permission for others to use the material under the terms specified by the license.

The copyright owner may continue to use the material and exercise his/her rights in the material, including granting permissions that are not already covered by the Creative Commons license.

Does this mean that I cannot continue to use my work in my other professional endeavors (e.g. conferences, publications)?

You may continue to use your work in conference presentations, publications, etc.

Does this mean I can’t publish my material somewhere else?

For materials where you own the copyright, you may choose to publish the material elsewhere even if it appears on the OSUL website under the CC BY license statement. You may be required to inform potential publishers that the material has already been published on the OSUL website under the CC BY license; consult potential publishers’ submission policies for their stance on this question.

I agree to the CC BY license in general but I have some content that I don’t want to be included; what should I do?

Use an alternate rights statement and clearly indicate the work that you do not want licensed under the CC BY license.

Sample alternate rights statement:

<Insert identifying name/description/citation of specific materials> is not included in the OSU Libraries’ Website CC BY license. Please contact <insert your name and contact information> for rights and permissions regarding uses that may exceed fair use or other exceptions to the law.

Notes on using an alternate rights statement:

You may only provide an alternate rights statement for materials when you own the copyrightto those materials. You own the copyright if any of the following apply:
1. You are a faculty member AND the material is traditional scholarly work (e.g. publications, blog posts, exhibit materials)
2. You are a non-employee student (e.g. practicum students, interns)
3. You created the material outside of the scope of your employment (e.g. personal photography or artwork)
If you would like to provide a different rights statement than the standard language provided below for content for which you are the copyright owner, please contact Copyright Services.
To apply the alternate rights statement to your entire blog, consider creating a text widget.

Why Creative Commons?

Applying an open license such as the CC BY license to OSUL web content helps to promote the following goals and outcomes:

Increase overall use and dissemination of OSUL created materials
Ensure that OSUL is credited as the source of the material
Support Libre Open Access by removing at least some permissions barriers
Promote OSUL as a leader within the profession by adopting a proactive, progressive approach to copyright management, and making materials available for reuse and adaptation by other libraries
Reduce permissions requests by making OSUL created materials available for use under unambiguous terms

Creative Commons licensing in general offers several competitive advantages (compared to other licensing options or writing our own terms of use):

Creative Commons is a global nonprofit organization with arguably the greatest user recognition; users may already be familiar with CC licenses from Wikipedia, Flickr, other academic institutions, open educational resources, or open access publications.
CC licenses are legally enforceable and apply internationally, allowing global use and dissemination of OSUL materials under the terms of the license we choose.
CC licenses include a machine readable component that enables search engines and other software to recognize and index materials that have been licensed using Creative Commons. This contributes significantly to the findability of our materials for those who are actively searching for openly licensed content.