One thing I am asked a lot is: ‘can I use images in my teaching?’ This usually means images found on the internet, but can also mean images from books or magazines.

If we break this question down, it means: ‘can I copy an image, for teaching purposes, where the copyright is owned by somebody else?’

(For images where you or York St John are the author, or the author has been dead for more than 70 years, there are no copyright restrictions. For example, an image of Mona Lisa is in the public domain).

The copyright is the right of the author or owner of that work. In order to reuse an image you will need permission – this could come in the form of a statutory exception or licence, or written permission directly from the owner.

The ‘teaching’ bit of the question is key when thinking about a statutory exception. There is an exception in UK copyright law which allows copying of a fair dealing amount of a work for the purpose of ‘giving or receiving instruction’. The owner of the image must always be credited. Fair dealing must be considered on a case by case basis, so please contact ILS for further information.

The easiest route by far is to always use images that are licensed for reuse, such as Creative Commons. This entails changing your searching habits, but once you do, you will discover a world of high quality, relevant images. And, these images are not  restricted to being used for the purpose of instruction – so if you want to use visuals to brighten up your presentation, or communicate information in a different way, then this is the route to take.

We recommend the following sites:

• ILS has a subscription to Britannica  ImageQuest which has millions of images which are cleared for educational use. This is best accessed from our databases page.
• Flickr contains images which owners have released under Creative Commons licences, meaning that others can reuse them so long as they attribute the author. There are sometimes other conditions, such as not using them for a commercial purpose, and these terms are outlined on each photo. To find these images, click on the magnifying glass in the search box and select ‘All creative commons’ from the drop-down menu

• Wikimedia Commons is a good source of Creative Commons and public domain images. Search it for images and the reuse terms will be on each image page.
• Finally, Google Images can be used – just alter your search parameters. Click on ‘Search tools’ at the end, then ‘Usage rights’. You can use any of the four ‘reuse’ options listed.

What is your favourite source of copyright-cleared images? We would love to hear your suggestions.

Happy searching!