The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Copyright Procedures Copyright Policy All items displayed online, as part of this digitization program, must be under the copyright of one of the participating libraries or be in the public domain. Items may also be placed online if permission to do so has been granted by the copyright holder. Items will not be published online if doing so will be a known infringement of copyright. Items may be uploaded to VITA if permission has not yet been granted, however they must remain hidden from public view until permission can be obtained. If copyright is unknown, the material may be posted. However, a statement that highlights the fact that copyright is unknown must accompany the material. A copyright statement should appear with each item placed online. Additionally, a terms of use statement encourages proper treatment of items and should also be included. General Copyright Information: Factual information, ideas, and news are part of the public domain, and cannot be copyrighted. Ownership of an item does not equal the ownership of copyright of that item. Often the copyright belongs to the creator of the item or the original producer of the item. Permission for use of copyrighted information should always be obtained in writing. Determining Copyright: How to decide if copyright is expired and if an item is in the public domain: 1) Determine what type of media the item is. E.g. unpublished work, photo, published book, etc. 2) Determine who owns the copyright. This is often printed in the front of a published work. If the work is unpublished the copyright holder is most likely the author or creator of the work. 3) Determine how long the copyright is in effect. If the copyright has expired, the material is now in the public domain and can be posted online. If the material is still under copyright permission must be granted before material can be placed online. 4) If the owner of the copyright is not known (eg. No author, creator, or publisher is listed) material may be placed online when accompanied by a statement which highlights that "copyright is unknown." However, every effort to find who the copyright holder is should be attempted prior to a copyright unknown statement being attached. Any items in question which are locally created should be brought to the partner organization, in hopes of obtaining a contact name. Krista McCracken Copyright Procedures Final March 2010