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Open Educational Resources Playbook
This playbook will help you locate open educational resources.
Need Help?
Ask a Librarian @
Betty Sue Jessup Library
501 College Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.961.5309
reference@pvcc.edu
Betty Sue Jessup Library
501 College Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.961.5309
reference@pvcc.edu
Search Engines
Use these search engines to locate Creative Commons-licensed images. Additional instructions are located here.
- Creative Commons SearchPlease note that search.creativecommons.org is not a [technically] search engine, but rather offers convenient access to search services provided by other independent organizations. CC has no control over the results that are returned. Do not assume that the results displayed in this search portal are under a CC license. You should always verify that the work is actually under a CC license by following the link. Since there is no registration to use a CC license, CC has no way to determine what has and hasn't been placed under the terms of a CC license. If you are in doubt you should contact the copyright holder directly, or try to contact the site where you found the content.
- Google Image SearchUse the Google search engine to search for Creative Commons licensed content.
- PicsearchYou must obtain the appropriate permissions to use any image linked to from Picsearch from the owner(s) of the material.
- Yahoo! Image SearchUse the Yahoo search engine to search for images on the web.
Public Domain Repositories
These collections primarily offer access to works in the public domain. There are no restrictions whatsoever on their use.
- The British LibraryThe British Library’s collections on Flickr Commons offer access to millions of public domain images, which [are] encourage[d] for you to explore and re-use.
- CupcakeAll photos here on www.cupcake.nilssonlee.se are licensed under the Creative Commons license CC0, which means that you are free to use the images without any costs. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking for permission.
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online CatalogRights assessment is your responsibility.
As a publicly supported institution the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections. - Life of PixFree high-resolution photos, no copyrights restrictions. Images for personal commercial use.
- Negative SpaceAll the photos and raw files on this website are distributed under the CC0 creative commons license. That means that you can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission or give attibution.
- PexelsAll photos on Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, and are free for personal or commercial use. Attribution is not required.
- PixabayOn Pixabay you may find and share images free of copyrights. All pictures are published under Creative Commons public domain deed CC0. You can copy, modify, distribute and use the images, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission and without paying attribution. However, depicted content may still be protected by trademarks, publicity or privacy rights.
- Public-Domain-Image.comPublic domain images are top quality, high resolution (up to 20 mega pixels). All images are copyright friendly - safe images, not copyrighted, no restriction for their use, no rights reserved.
- Public-Domain-Photos.comAll photos on this web site are public domain. You may use these images for any purpose, including commercial.
- Public Domain FilesFind thousands of Public Domain files available for you to download and use, completely free of charge. Our goal is to build the largest collection of available files from all over the web, consolidated into one fast, easy to search archive.
- PublicDomainPictures.netPublicDomainPictures.net is a repository for free public domain images. Download high quality HD photos or upload your own.
- Smithsonian Institution Public Domain ImagesThe photos you see here are a sample of the more than 13 million images in some seven hundred collections in our museums, archives, and research centers. These collections contain photographs collected from outside sources in addition to those taken by Smithsonian staff, and represent a broad range of subjects and themes in the fields of art, history, culture, and science.
- StockSnap.ioAll photos on StockSnap fall under the Creative Commons CC0 license. That means you can copy, modify, distribute any photo on the site, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission!
- UnsplashAll photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero which means you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash.
- Wikimedia Commons, Category:CC-PD-MarkA repository of media marked as public domain using the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Creative Commons-Licensed Images
Images licensed under a Creative Commons license are free to use, as long as you abide by the restrictions set forth in the license. At the very least, you must provide attribution.
- Flickr Advanced SearchFlickr's advanced search allows you to search for Creative Commons-licensed content.
- OpenIAn open access biomedical image search engine from the National Library of Medicine. All images in OpenI are from the Open Access Subset of PubMed Central (PMC), a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Generally, the articles and images within this collection are licensed under a Creative Commons license. For more information, go here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/tools/openftlist/.
- Wikimedia CommonsAlmost all content hosted on Wikimedia Commons may be freely reused subject to certain restrictions in many cases. You do not need to obtain a specific statement of permission from the licensor unless you wish to use the work under different terms than the license states. Content under open content licenses may be reused without any need to contact the licensor, but
some licenses require that the original creator be attributed, some licenses require that the specific license be identified when reusing (including, in some cases, stating or linking to the terms of the license), and some licenses require that if you modify the work, your modifications must also be similarly freely licensed.
Freely Available/Licensed Image Repositories
These repositories or Web sites offer access to royalty-free, stock or high quality images. Each site has its own terms and conditions under which the photos are licensed. Hover over the link to find out more information on the allowed uses of the photos.
- Art Images for College TeachingArt Images for College Teaching (AICT) certifies that the image copies provided hereunder, the originals being the copyrighted intellectual property of art historian and photographer Allan T. Kohl, are licensed for non-commercial educational use as set forth below, and that the art and architectural works documented are, to the best of its knowledge, within the public domain as currently defined by United States copyright laws. Further information can be found here: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/aict?page=license.
- bigfoto.combigfoto copyright is very simple. You can use all our pictures free of charge in return for providing a link to the bigfoto website on your own website or blog. If you are using our pictures in a wikipedia article, please provide a link back to the bigfoto web page where the photo is to be found.
- Free Media GooThe content we provide is royalty free. No need for annoying links and no limits to the amount of free media you can use. No need to credit us for the images you use! Enjoy the free media!
- freeimagesAll images on the Web site are copyrighted and they are the properties of freeimages or its image providers. All rights are reserved unless otherwise granted to you. Your rights to use the image are subject to this agreement and the restrictions specified at each image. We hereby grant to you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the image on the terms and conditions explained in this Agreement and on the image preview page free of charge.
- Morgue FileMorguefile images are free to use in creative projects, although they are not in the public domain. You are still responsible for the legal content of the images including model releases and property releases. These images are provided with free usage rights, but you cannot claim ownership of the image.
Clip-Art
These Web sites offer access to free clip art, but be sure to check the copyright/license restrictions on each site by hovering over the link.
- iClipart.com30,000 free clipart images, including animations, backgrounds, clipart and much more.
- Open Icon LibraryAll these are icons are free and open source. That means they are free to use, modify, and redistribute, without any cost. They can be used for commercial and non-commercial projects or products, royalty free. The only requirement is that they remain free and open source, and you have to give credit where credit is due. So if you use the icons in your project, you have to offer the icons or any derivatives of the icons with the same free/open license.